BIOEQUIVALENCE STUDIES OF TWO BRANDS OF MELOXICAM TABLETS IN HEALTHY PAKISTANI VOLUNTEERS

The pharmacokinetic parameters of two oral formulations of meloxicam tablets were compared in a randomized, single oral dose; two treatments cross over design in 12 healthy male volunteers belonging to Pakistan under fasting conditions. After an overnight fast, the volunteers received 30 mg meloxicam and the blood samples were collected up to 96 hours and drug concentrations were determined by a validated HPLC method. Various pharmacokinetic parameters were determined from the plasma concentration-time curves of both formulations. The 90% confidence intervals obtained by analysis of variance were 87-94% for Cmax and 88-97% for AUC0-t, that fell well within the acceptance range of 80-125%. Also, no significant difference (α=0.05, Wilcoxon Signed rank test) were detected between Tmax of both formulations. The two formulations were well tolerated and no adverse effect was reported during the study.