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The effects resulting from the administration of therapeutic doses (1,200 mg/day for 8 days) of miocamycin, a novel macrolid derived from midecamycin, on theophylline elimination kinetic were investigated on 25 patients affected with chronic obstructive pathology on the respiratory tract. The curves of theophylline clearance, recorded before and after the treatment with miocamycin have shown to be perfectly overlapping (trend analysis). The assumption that the capacity of slackening the theophylline pharmacokinetic would be tightly bound to the particular structure of some macrolids appears to be fully confirmed by the results of the present investigation. When miocamycin is administered in combination with theophylline, the monitoring precautions of plasma levels of the latter are practically of no use.

Bicycle ergometer exercise tests were used to study two groups of 10 subjects suffering from type A chronic respiratory insufficiency before and after a 4-week course of L-carnitine or placebo. Analysis of the ventilatory and metabolic response to physical exercise (60 watts) revealed an improved utilization of the bio-energetic substrates obtained with L-carnitine as compared to patients treated with placebo. The substantial change observed in ventilatory and metabolic response to exercise after L-carnitine is characterized by an appreciable production of lactate and by the stability of pCO2, pH and HCO3 values, which would appear to support the hypothesis of a reduced anaerobic metabolism requirement for energy purposes.