Source: Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (GB) Revision Year: 2014 Publisher: Roche Products Limited, 6 Falcon Way, Shire Park, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1TW, United Kingdom
Calcitriol is the most active known form of vitamin D3 in stimulating intestinal calcium transport. It is normally formed in the kidneys from its immediate precursor, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol. In physiological amounts it augments the intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate and plays a significant part in the regulation of bone mineralisation. The defective production of calcitriol in chronic renal failure contributes to the abnormalities of mineral metabolism found in that disorder.
The biological effects of calcitriol are mediated by the vitamin D receptor, a nuclear hormone receptor expressed in most cell types and functioning as a ligand-activated transcription factor that binds to DNA sites to modify the expression of target genes.
Rocaltrol is a synthetic preparation of calcitriol. Oral administration of Rocaltrol to patients with chronic renal failure compensates for impaired endogenous production of calcitriol which is decreased when the glomerular filtration rate falls below 30 ml/min. Consequently, intestinal malabsorption of calcium and phosphate and the resulting hypocalcaemia are improved, thereby reversing the signs and symptoms of bone disease.
In patients with established post-menopausal osteoporosis, Rocaltrol increases calcium absorption, elevates circulating levels of calcitriol and reduces vertebral fracture frequency.
The onset and reversal of the effects of Rocaltrol are more rapid than those of other compounds with vitamin D activity and adjustment of the dose can be achieved sooner and more precisely. The effects of inadvertent overdosage can also be reversed more readily.
Calcitriol is rapidly absorbed from the intestine. Peak serum concentrations following a single oral dose of 0.25-1µg Rocaltrol in healthy subjects were found within 2-6 hours.
After a single oral dose of 0.5 mcg Rocaltrol in healthy subjects, the average serum concentrations of calcitriol rose from a baseline value of 40.0 ± 4.4 pg/ml to 60.0 ± 4.4 pg/ml after two hours, and then fell to 53.0 ± 6.9 after four hours, to 50.0 ± 7.0 after eight hours, to 44 ± 4.6 after twelve hours and to 41.5 ± 5.1 pg/ml after 24 hours.
During transport in the blood at physiological concentrations, calcitriol is mostly bound to a specific vitamin D binding protein (DBP), but also, to a lesser degree, to lipoproteins and albumin. At higher blood calcitriol concentrations, DBP appears to become saturated, and increased binding to lipoproteins and albumin occurs.
Calcitriol is hydroxylated and oxidised in the kidney and in the liver by a specific cytochrome P450 enzyme: CYP24A1.
Several metabolites with different degrees of vitamin D activity have been identified.
The elimination half-life of calcitriol in plasma ranges between 5 to 8 hours. However, the pharmacological effect of a single dose of calcitriol lasts at least 4 days. The elimination and absorption kinetics of calcitriol remain linear in a very broad dose range and up to 165 µg single oral dose. Calcitriol is excreted in the bile and may undergo an enterohepatic circulation.
Subchronic toxicity studies in rats and dogs indicated that calcitriol at an oral dose of 20 ng/kg/day (twice the usual human dosage) for up to 6 months produced no or minimal adverse effects. A dose of 80 ng/kg/day (8 times the usual human dosage) for up to 6 months produced moderate adverse effects; changes seen appeared to be primarily the result of prolonged hypercalcaemia.
Reproductive toxicity studies in rats indicated that oral doses up to 300 ng/kg/day (30 times the usual human dose) did not adversely affect reproduction. In rabbits, multiple foetal abnormalities were observed in two litters at an oral maternally toxic dose of 300 ng/kg/day and one litter at 80 ng/kg/day, but not at 20 ng/kg/day (twice the usual human dose). Although there were no statistically significant differences between treated groups and controls in the numbers of litters or foetuses showing abnormalities, the possibility that these findings were due to calcitriol administration could not be discounted.
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