Investigation of factors responsible for low oral bioavailability of cefpodoxime proxetil

Learning about the behavior of a drug in biological environment enables application of better formulation strategies to improve bioavailability of the same. Cefpodoxime proxetil (CP) is a prodrug, which is orally administered cephalosporin with only 50% absolute bioavailability. Despite previous studies, reasons responsible for low bioavailability of CP remain poorly understood. The present study tries to ascertain reasons for the low oral bioavailability of CP. The in vitro, in situ and ex vivo studies showed interesting results, where metabolism of CP into cefpodoxime acid (CA) inside the intestinal epithelial cell and preferential efflux of CA into lumen was identified as primary reason for low oral bioavailability of CP. Presence of specific carriers or transportation mechanism on the apical side membrane of enterocyte, than basal side of the same was observed.