The Benefit of Administering Ranitidine with Food

This study was performed to determine the effect of food on the pharmacokinetic parameters of ranitidine. In a randomized crossover study, four healthy volunteers received a 150-mg tablet of ranitidine in the fasted state and, two weeks later, after eating a standard breakfast. Blood samples were taken frequently and analysed by reversed-phase HPLC. With all volunteers secondary peaks were present in the drug concentration-time profiles after administration in the fasted state; these were not present after administration of the drug in the fed state. Differences between AUC(0-∞) (the area under the plot of concentration against time) and between tmax (the time of maximum concentration) in the fasted and fed states were not significant, but Cmax (maximum concentration, fed state) and C1max (the first peak of concentration in the concentration-time profile, fasted state) were significantly different. This difference resulted in short tmax and relatively high Cmax in the presence of food.