The Impact of Calories and Fat Content of Meals on Oral Ziprasidone Absorption

Article AbstractBackground: Food is known to increase the bioavailability of ziprasidone. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of meals of differing caloric and fat content on steady-state ziprasidone exposure in a stable, treated group of subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or psychotic disorder (not otherwise specified) who were already receiving oral ziprasidone as their standard therapy.Method: Patients took ziprasidone under 6 meal conditions in randomized sequences (fasted, low calorie/low fat, low calorie/high fat, medium calorie/high fat, high calorie/low fat, and high calorie/high fat); each crossover period was separated by at least 3 days for washout of the previous meal condition. Serial blood samples were obtained over the 12 hours postdose. The study was conducted from July 27 to September 28 of 2006.Results: Maximum ziprasidone exposures in this study were observed with high-calorie meals (1000 kcal), which were nearly twice those observed under fasting conditions. The medium-calorie meal (500 kcal) was associated with exposures similar to the high-calorie meals. Low-calorie meals (250 kcal) were associated with exposures that were approximately 60% to 90% lower than those of medium- and high-calorie meals, and approached exposures seen under fasting conditions. Fat content of the meal had no significant effect on ziprasidone absorption. The ziprasidone exposures observed with medium- and high-calorie meals had less variability than those with low-calorie meals and under fasting conditions.Conclusion: These results confirm that ziprasidone should be taken with food and that a meal equal to or greater than 500 kcal, irrespective of fat content, is required for optimal and reproducible bioavailability of the administered dose.