Abstract
To evaluate the bioequivalence of two ramipril formulations, a standard 2-way randomized cross-over study was conducted in twenty-six healthy male Korean volunteers. A single oral dose of 10 mg of test formulation $Ramiprin^{(R)}$ (tablet) or reference formulation Tritace $Protect^{(R)}$ (tablet) was administered with one-week washout period. Plasma concentrations of ramipril were assayed over a period of 12 hr with a well validated method using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The values of area under the plasma concentration-time curve, from time zero to last sampling time $(AUC_t)$ and from time zero to time infinity $(AUC_{inf})$ were $77.45{\pm}44.78\;and\;78.96{\pm}45.64$ for test, and $70.30{\pm}42.27\;and\;71.99{\pm}43.55ng\;hr/mL$ for reference formulation, respectively. Similarly, maximum concentration $(C_{max})$ and elimination half-life $(t_{1/2})$ were $65.61{\pm}19.96ng/mL$ and $2.15{\pm}0.75hr$ for test, and $63.63{\pm}25.50ng/mL$ and $2.16{\pm}0.73hr$ for reference formulations, respectively. Time to reach maximum concentration $(T_{max})$ for the test and the reference, were $0.51{\pm}0.22hr\;and\;0.52{\pm}0.18hr$, respectively. The parametric 90% confidence intervals on the mean of the differences between the two formulations (test-reference) of the log-transformed values of $AUC_t\;and\;C_{max}$ were 1.03 to 1.19 and 0.98 to 1.17, respectively. The overall results indicate that the two formulations are bioequivalent and can be prescribed interchangeably.