Comparative enantioselective pharmacokinetic studies of celiprolol in healthy volunteers and patients with impaired renal function

The pharmacokinetics of the beta 1-selective adrenergic antagonist (R,S)-celiprolol has been studied after oral administration of 200 mg celiprolol-HCl to 8 healthy volunteers and 8 patients with various degrees of impaired renal function. No significant difference was found between the two enantiomers in the control group or in the patients. In healthy volunteers an average of 9.8% of the dose of R-(+)-celiprolol and 9.5% of S-(-)-celiprolol was recovered unchanged in the urine. Renal impairment reduced the urinary excretion of both enantiomers to the same extent according to the severity of the uraemia, producing higher AUCs. Nevertheless, the terminal half-lives of the R- and S-enantiomers were not significantly different between the groups. Dosage reduction in patients with renal impairment does not seem to be necessary.