Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group
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2012 OMIG Abstract 18

The Pharmacokinetics of Voriconazole 1% Eye Drops
E. Chan⁴, D. Al-Badriyeh^1,2, C.F. Neoh^2,7, L. Leung³, R. O. Fullinfaw⁵, V. Jhanji⁴, R.B. Vajpayee⁴,
G.E. Davies⁵, K. Stewart² and D.C.M. Kong^2
1College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; ²Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Monash University, Australia; ³Pharmacy Department, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Australia; ⁴Corneal Unit, Centre for Eye Research Australia, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Australia; ⁵Special Chemistry, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia; ⁶Defence Materiel Organisation, Southbank, Australia; ⁷Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Technology Mara, Penang, Malaysia

Purpose: To evaluate the change in concentration of voriconazole in the aqueous over time after topical administration of voriconazole 1% eye drops.

Methods: Eligible patients attending the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital for elective cataract surgery between 2009 and 2011 were invited to participate in the study. Participants received 1 drop (~50uL) of voriconazole 1% eye drops prior to the scheduled surgery. During surgery, aqueous was removed and analysed to determine the concentration of voriconazole. Samples were taken at 20±5, 40±5, 60±5 and 80±5 minutes after voriconazole instillation.  

Results: Five participants provided aqueous samples at each of the four sampling points. The median voriconazole concentrations in the aqueous were 3.2 (range 1.1-4.1), 3.1 (2.1-3.4), 1.9 (1.2-5.1) and 2.0 (0.9-2.3) mg/L respectively, at 20, 40, 60 and 80 minutes after voriconazole instillation.

Conclusion: The voriconazole concentrations achieved in the aqueous for the first 80 min after topical administration were consistently higher than the in vitro MIC90 of voriconazole against typical keratitis-causative fungi. The data suggest that reducing the frequency of administration of voriconazole eye drops therapy may be adequate to manage most fungal keratitis.

Disclosure: None pertaining to current study. Financial support has been received for unrelated studies by EC (Allergan) and DCMK (Pfizer, Merck, Gilead Sciences).

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