Relationship Between the Pharmacokinetics of Levosimendan and Its Effects on Cardiovascular System

Charalambos      Antoniades; Alexios   S.   Antonopoulos; Dimitris      Tousoulis; Constantinos      Bakogiannis; Elli      Stefanadi; Christodoulos      Stefanadis

doi:10.2174/138920009787522142

Abstract

Levosimendan, a Ca2+ sensitizer, has emerged as an alternative option of pharmacologic inotropic support in patients with decompensated heart failure. In contrast to classic inotropes, rather than interfering with intracellular Ca2+ levels in myocytes, levosimendan improves cardiac performance via Ca2+ sensitization and K+ channel-mediated peripheral vasodilatation. A two compartment pharmacokinetic model with zero-order input and first-order elimination has been found to describe best the pharmacokinetics of levosimendan. Although oral levosimendan has high bioavailability (≉85%), in clinical practice it has been hitherto administered intravenously. Levosimendan has total clearance 175-250 mL/h/kg and most importantly a short half-life (about 1.5 hours). Therefore, this drug has a special pharmacokinetic interest: It is one of the few drugs used in cardiovascular medicine, whose prolonged action is not due to the drug itself but it is mainly due to its active metabolite OR-1896 (∼80 hours half life). Other metabolites with possible pharmacologic effect are N-conjugated OR-1855 (M7), N-hydroxylated OR-1855 (M8), N-hydroxylated OR-1896 (M10), O-glucuronide OR-1896 (M9) and O-sulfate (M11) of N-hydroxylated OR-1896. Initial reports on levosimendans use in severe heart failure were positive and levosimendan has already been routinely used for the treatment of patients with decompensated heart failure, while it has been included to the European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the treatment of acute heart failure (class of recommendation IIb, level of evidence B). However, recent clinical trials have failed to demonstrate a clear benefit of levosimendan on survival, compared to other classic inotropic agents in patients requiring inotropic support. In this review article we provide a pharmacokinetic approach for the use of levosimendan in cardiovascular system by discussing its metabolism and mainly the pharmacology of its active metabolites in humans.

Keywords: Levosimendan, Ca2+ sensitizers, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, heart failure

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