USE OF ESSENTIAL OILS TO INCREASE BIOAVAILABILITY OF ORAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOUNDS

摘要

A method for increasing bioavailability of an orally administered hydrophobic pharmaceutical compound, which comprises orally administering the pharmaceutical compound to a mammal in need of treatment with the compound concurrently with an essential oil or essential oil component in an amount sufficient to provide bioavailability of the compound in the presence of the essential oil or essential oil component greater than bioavailability of the compound in the absence of the essential oil or essential oil component, wherein the essential oil or essential oil component has an activity of at least 10% inhibition at a concentration 0.01 wt.% or less in an assay that measures reduced conversion of cyclosporine to hydroxylated products using an assay system containing 250 .mu.g rat liver microsomes, 1 .mu.M cyclosporine and 1 mM reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) in 1 ml of 0.1 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4.