Tolerability of ibuprofen and flurbiprofen in G‐6‐PD deficient subjects: in vitro study.

Abstract

1 A ‘GSH (reduced glutathione) stability test’ which consists of incubating blood samples with acetylphenylhydrazine and other test drugs and measuring GSH level before and after incubation, was carried out. 2 Application of this test to the blood of eight normal volunteers and twelve known G‐6‐PD deficient persons demonstrated that acetylphenylhydrazine and primaquine produced a significant decrease in GSH levels in G‐6‐PD deficient red cells compared to the reduction seen in normal red cells incubated with these drugs. No such change was observed with aspirin, ibuprofen and flurbiprofen. 3 The results of this in vitro study seem to indicate that ibuprofen and flurbiprofen are relatively innocuous in G‐6‐PD deficient individuals.