Exploring clozapine pharmacokinetics in Tunisian schizophrenic patients: A population‐based modelling approach investigating the impact of genetic and non‐genetic variables

AbstractClozapine is characterized by a large within‐ and between‐patient variability in its pharmacokinetics, attributed to non‐genetic and genetic factors. A cross‐sectional analysis of clozapine trough concentration (Clz C0) issued from Tunisian schizophrenic patients was collected and analysed using a nonparametric modelling approach. We assessed the impact of demographic covariates (age, weight and sex), patient's habits (smoking status, alcohol and caffeine intake) and the genetic factors (CYP1A2*1C, CYP1A2*1F and CYP2C19*2 polymorphisms) on each pharmacokinetic parameter. An external validation of this pharmacokinetic model using an independent data set was performed. Fit goodness between observed‐ and individual‐predicted data was evaluated using the mean prediction error (% MPE), the mean absolute prediction error (% MAPE) as a measure of bias, and the root mean squared error (% RMSE) as a measure of precision. Sixty‐three CLz C0 values issued from 51 schizophrenic patients were assessed in this study and divided into building and validation groups. CYP1A2*1F polymorphism and smoking status were the only covariates significantly associated with clozapine clearance. Precision parameters were as follows: 1.02%, 0.95% and 22.4%, respectively, for % MPE, % MAPE and % RMSE. We developed and validated an accurate pharmacokinetic model able to predict Clz C0 in Tunisian schizophrenic patients using the two parameters CYP1A2*1F polymorphism and smoking.