Flat Sprite found to improve effectiveness of anti-cancer drug

Writing in the Molecular Pharmaceutics journal of the American Chemical Society, scientists at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis used an artificial stomach to test the impact of different dosing fluids on drug absorption.

Previous studies had shown that variations in stomach pH can affect how well drugs taken by the mouth are absorbed and potentially reduce their effectiveness.

In the case of the anti-cancer drug pen named ‘Lilly Compound X’ (LCX) in the study, Eli Lilly and Company researchers found significant variation in results in a small population of four patients.

To establish whether stomach pH played a major role in explaining the differences and determine whether a solution could be found to the variability problem, human artificial stomach experiments were set up with different dosing fluids.

Captisol / Sprite mix ​

Fluids put to the test in the artificial stomach included deionized water, degassed Sprite, a hydrochloric acid/ Captisol mixture, and a mixture of Captisol and Sprite. Captisol is a substance that helps improve the solubility of drug ingredients.

Of the different dosing options tested, the results suggested that the mixture of Captisol and Sprite was a particularly effective tool to control stomach pH in a way likely to permit greater absorption of the anti-cancer drug.

The researchers concluded: “The dosing regime Sprite/Captisol is therefore suggested for future clinical trials involving LCX.”​

Source: Molecular Pharmaceutics
2010, 7 (5), pp 1533–1538
Use of Artificial Stomach−Duodenum Model for Investigation of Dosing Fluid Effect on Clinical Trial Variability​
Authors: Christopher S. Polster, Faraj Atassi, Sy-Juen Wu, and David C. Sperry