Pentosan Polysulfate half-life & pharmacokinetics

Reported half-life

Oral: the FDA label for Elmiron reports that a mean of approximately 6% of a radiolabelled oral dose is absorbed and reaches the systemic circulation, and that plasma radioactivity declined with mean half-lives of 27 and 20 hours after 300 mg and 450 mg oral doses respectively. Subcutaneous and intramuscular pharmacokinetics were not verified for this page.

The figures above are taken from the FDA label for oral Elmiron, where the half-lives describe plasma radioactivity after a radiolabelled dose. Plasma half-life describes the time taken for the circulating concentration to fall by half after a single dose; tissue half-life is a distinct parameter.

Routes of administration studied

• Oral (Elmiron capsules, interstitial cystitis)
• Subcutaneous injection (knee osteoarthritis trials)
• Intramuscular injection (knee osteoarthritis pilot trial)

Drug class

Semi-synthetic heparin-like sulfated polysaccharide; weak anticoagulant (per FDA label)

Mechanism context

Half-life interpretation depends on the underlying mechanism. Pentosan Polysulfate acts as follows:

Pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS) is a semi-synthetic drug manufactured from beech-wood hemicellulose by sulfate esterification of the xylopyranose hydroxyl groups (Kumagai et al., BMC Clin Pharmacol 2010). The FDA label for oral Elmiron describes it as a semi-synthetically produced heparin-like macromolecular carbohydrate derivative with a molecular weight of 4000 to 6000 Dalton, and as a low molecular weight heparin-like compound with anticoagulant and fibrinolytic effects. It is a polysaccharide, not a peptide.

See the full Pentosan Polysulfate research profile for the complete mechanism summary, history, study citations, and references.

For dose ranges in published research, see the dosing reference page. For reconstitution guidance, see the reconstitution reference page.