Pharmacokinetics of terbutaline, a beta 2-sympathomimetic, in healthy volunteers and asthmatic patients.

The pharmacokinetics of 1-(35-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-(tert.butylamino)ethanol (terbutaline, Bricanyl) after i.v. and s.c. injection to normal humans and after s.c. and p.o. administration to patients was studied. The kinetic measurements showed that the standard deviations of the respective parameters were not excessively large. Therefore a reasonable production of the behaviour of terbutaline in man is possible. Some important parameters are the biological half-life at 3.6 h (SD = 1.0), the body clearance at 0.26 l/(kg x h) (SD = 0.09), the volume of the reference compartment at 0.47 l/kg (SD = 0.10) and the volume in the steady state at 1.01 l/kg (SD = 0.14). The absolute bioavailability is calculated at 10%.