Conditions: Depression
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 34
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The objectives of this project are to determine if the bioavailability and release pattern of bupropion HCl products differ and if the genotype of the metabolic enzymes affects the saturation of intestinal enzymes with different dose strengths within one product line. Findings from this project will help the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research's (CDER) Office of Generic Drugs improve policy development and review practice in the future for similar products, e.g. extended release oral drug products being metabolized in the gut wall and having multiple strengths.

Aim 1: To compare the pharmacokinetics of bupropion and its metabolites in plasma in healthy individuals when they ingest different strengths of bupropion (75-300 mg) with variable release profiles (IR vs XL vs SR) in GI tract.

Working hypothesis: Variation in release rate and mechanism of bupropion formulations in gastrointestinal (GI) tract will impact metabolism and saturation of bupropion in GI tract, which will generate different concentration of bupropion and its metabolites in plasma.

Aim 2: To investigate pharmacogenomics of CYP 2B6 that influences metabolism, saturation, and pharmacokinetics of bupropion

Working hypothesis: The gain of function of CYP2B6 variants (allele \*4 and \*22) in patients will increase the metabolism of bupropion in the GI tract and liver, reduce both local concentration and plasma concentration of bupropion, and thus cause non-bioequivalence when bupropion is released earlier in GI tract

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: One oral dose of generic bupropion IR75 arm 2: One oral dose of generic bupropion IR100 arm 3: One oral dose of generic bupropion SR100 arm 4: One oral dose of generic bupropion SR150 arm 5: One oral dose of generic bupropion XL150 arm 6: One oral dose of generic bupropion XL300

Interventions: intervention 1: generic bupropion
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: We are comparing different formulations of bupropion that release this drug at different rates. The abbreviation IR75 means immediate release and the number is the dose in mg. The other abbreviations represent SR for sustained-release and XL for extended release, which release the drug slower than the IR formulation.

Protocol document: