Predicting Human Clearance of Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide Substrates Using Cynomolgus Monkey: In Vitro-In Vivo Scaling of Hepatic Uptake Clearance

This work explores the utility of the cynomolgus monkey as a preclinical model to predict hepatic uptake clearance mediated by organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) transporters. Nine OATP substrates (rosuvastatin, pravastatin, repaglinide, fexofenadine, cerivastatin, telmisartan, pitavastatin, bosentan, and valsartan) were investigated in plated cynomolgus monkey and human hepatocytes. Total uptake clearance and passive diffusion were measured in vitro from initial rates in the absence and presence of the OATP inhibitor rifamycin SV, respectively. Total uptake clearance values in plated hepatocytes ranged over three orders of magnitude in both species, with a similar rank order and good agreement in the relative contribution of active transport to total uptake between cynomolgus monkey and human. In vivo hepatic clearance for these nine drugs was determined in cynomolgus monkey after intravenous dosing. Hepatic clearances showed a range similar to human parameters and good predictions from respective hepatocyte parameters (with 2.7- and 3.8-fold bias on average, respectively). The use of cross-species empirical scaling factors (determined from cynomolgus monkey data either as the data set average or individual drug values) improved prediction (less bias, better concordance) of human hepatic clearance from human hepatocyte data alone. In vitro intracellular binding in hepatocytes also correlated well between species. It is concluded that the minimal species differences observed for the current data set between cynomolgus monkey and human hepatocyte uptake, both in vitro and in vivo, support future use of this preclinical model to delineate drug hepatic uptake and enable prediction of human in vivo intrinsic hepatic clearance.