Two sampling time profiles for the abbreviated estimation of mycophenolic acid area under the curve in adult renal transplant recipients treated with mycophenolate mofetil and concomitant tacrolimus

Summary Objective: Various studies have revealed that mycophenolic acid (MPA) area under the time‐concentration curve (AUC) may have clinical value in mycophenolate mofetil dose adjustment. As the full AUC measurement is impractical in clinical practice, several abbreviated AUC profiles using pre‐dose, and two or three post‐dose samples have been proposed; however, the possible use of lower sampling time profiles has an unquestionable practical interest, and the aim of our study was the evaluation of several two‐points algorithms using only one post‐dose sample. Patients and methods: In 60 MPA concentration‐time profiles from 37 adult renal transplant patients treated with mycophenolate mofetil and concomitant tacrolimus, the MPA AUC values were estimated using the three sampling time algorithm (pre‐dose, one‐half and 2 h post‐dose) of Pawinski et al. (Clinical Chemistry 48, 2002, 1497), trapezoidal extrapolated procedure according to Hale et al. (Clinical Pharmacology Therapeutics 64, 1998, 672), and two‐points algorithm (pre‐dose and 2 h post‐dose) proposed by David‐Neto et al. (Clinical Transplantation 19, 2005,19). Results: The AUC values estimated using the algorithm of Pawinski et al. had a very high correlation (r = 0·997, P