BACKGROUND: Aliskiren is the first oral direct renin inhibitor to be approved for the treatment of hypertension. The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of aliskiren has been extensively characterized in Caucasian individuals; however, drug disposition, treatment response and tolerability can vary among ethnic groups, and these variations are difficult to predict. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the single- and multiple-dose pharmacokinetics of aliskiren in healthy Chinese subjects. METHODS: This was a randomized, single-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study. On day -1, subjects were randomized to one of four cohorts (aliskiren 75, 150, 300 or 600 mg). On day 1, eight individuals in each cohort received a single dose of active treatment and two received placebo. Subjects randomized to aliskiren 300 mg received additional once-daily doses on days 5-11 to establish steady-state pharmacokinetics. Subjects receiving aliskiren 75, 150 or 600 mg (cohorts 1, 2 and 4) completed the study at the end of the 96-hour pharmacokinetic assessment period. Subjects receiving aliskiren 300 mg (cohort 3) had additional pharmacokinetic assessments on days 5-15. The study was carried out at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China, and included 40 healthy Chinese subjects. The main outcome measures were the pharmacokinetic parameters for aliskiren, including area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUC(infinity)) and maximum plasma concentration (C(max)). RESULTS: Aliskiren AUC(infinity) and C(max) increased greater than proportionally across the 8-fold dose range (75-600 mg; mean AUC(infinity) 291-4726 ng x h/mL, mean C(max) 62-699 ng/mL), but a dose-proportional 2-fold increase was observed within the clinically approved dose range (150-300 mg; mean AUC(infinity) 876-1507 ng x h/mL, mean C(max) 137-271 ng/mL). CONCLUSION: At steady state, the mean AUC during the dosage interval (AUC(tau)) for aliskiren 300 mg (1532 +/- 592 ng x h/mL) was similar to the AUC(infinity) observed following a single dose. Aliskiren exhibits similar single-dose and steady-state pharmacokinetics in Chinese subjects compared with those observed in Caucasian individuals in previous studies.