Bioequivalence (BE) of products containing narrow therapeutic index (NTI) drugs in the European Union is currently established by demonstrating that the 90% confidence interval for the ratio of the population geometric means of the test compared to the reference product’s AUC, and in certain cases Cmax, is included within the tighter acceptance range of 90.00−111.11%. An alternative criterion, consisting of narrowed limits based on the within-subject variability of the reference product, was recently proposed. Its performance for a three-period partial replicate design was tested by simulation in terms of power to show BE, type I error (T1E) and sample size requirements. A new condition, a constraint on the test-to-reference geometric mean ratio (cGMR) to be contained within the range of 90.00−111.11%, was also tested. The probability of showing BE when the products differ more than 10% was increased, but only if the reference product’s within-subject variability was moderate-to-high. The inclusion of the additional cGMR limited this. An increase in the T1E (<7%) was observed. The inclusion of the additional cGMR did not change the highest inflation of the T1E. Finally, a significant sample size reduction was observed and the inclusion of the cGMR usually did not increase the required sample size.
Keywords: bioequivalence; generic medicinal products; medicines regulation; narrow therapeutic index.