• Lia Gore, Sant Chawla, Antonio Petrilli, Molly Hemenway, Debra Schissel, Vickey Chua, Alexandra D Carides, Arlene Taylor, Suzanne Devandry, Jack Valentine, Judith K Evans, Bettina Oxenius, and Adolescent Aprepitant in Cancer Study Group.
• Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant, Children's Hospital and The University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colorado, USA. lia.gore@ucdenver.edu
• Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2009 Feb 1;52(2):242-7.

BackgroundThe neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist aprepitant, plus a 5HT3 antagonist and corticosteroid is well-tolerated and effective in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in adults but has not been formally assessed in adolescents.ProcedurePatients age 11-19 years old receiving emetogenic chemotherapy were randomized 2:1 to aprepitant triple therapy (aprepitant [A] 125 mg p.o., dexamethasone [D] 8 mg p.o., and ondansetron [O] 0.15 mg/kg i.v. t.i.d. day 1; A 80 mg, D 4 mg, and O 0.15 mg/kg t.i.d. day 2; A 80 mg and D 4 mg day 3; and D 4 mg day 4) or a control regimen (D 16 mg and O 0.15 mg/kg t.i.d. day 1; D 8 mg and O 0.15 mg/kg t.i.d. day 2; and D 8 mg days 3 and 4). The primary endpoint was the difference in drug-related adverse events during and for 14 days following treatment. Efficacy and aprepitant pharmacokinetics were assessed.ResultsBaseline characteristics were similar between aprepitant (N = 28) and control (N = 18) groups. Febrile neutropenia was more frequent in the aprepitant group (25% vs. 11.1%). Complete response (CR) rates were 35.7% for aprepitant triple therapy versus 5.6% for the control group. Mean plasma aprepitant AUC(0-24 hr) and C(max) on day 1 and mean trough concentrations on days 2 and 3 were consistently lower compared to historical data obtained from healthy adults; however, the differences were not clinically significant.ConclusionAprepitant triple therapy was generally well tolerated; CR were greater with aprepitant, although not statistically significant. Pharmacokinetics suggest that the adult dosing regimen is appropriate for adolescents.(c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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