Step 1: The maintenance dose is the dose given repeatedly to keep the drug concentration at steady state. At steady state, the rate of drug administration equals the rate of drug elimination.
Step 2: The rate of elimination depends on clearance (CL) and the target steady-state concentration (Css). The relationship is \(\text{Maintenance dose rate} = CL \times C_{ss}\). Therefore clearance is the key parameter for the maintenance dose.
Step 3: Volume of distribution, by contrast, is used to calculate the loading dose (Loading dose = Vd x target concentration). So option b governs the loading dose, not the maintenance dose.
Step 4: Oral bioavailability only corrects the dose for the oral route and daily dosage is an outcome, not the determining pharmacokinetic value. Hence clearance is correct.