Drug Development Phase Validated Methods

CE methods are developed and utilized in pharmaceutical QC for early to late phases of drug development. Chapter 4 covers the approaches for late-phase development for small molecules that can be used in early-phase development, as well as for large-molecular-weight compounds. Late-phase method development in pharmaceutical QC is performed for required stability studies and for release of the drug product or drug substance validation batches, and is intended to be transferred to the operational QC laboratories for release testing of the production batches. Preferably, late-phase methods should be fast, robust, reliable, and transferable. Therefore it is crucial to devote adequate time, thought, and resources to the development of such methods. 

A typical example of HPLC method development and validation was provided by Boneschans et al. [9]. They developed an HPLC method for piroxicam benzoate and its major hydrolytic degradation products, piroxicam and benzoic acid. The authors utilised a robust stationary phase (Phenomenex Luna, Cig), with an optimised mobile phase comprising of acetonitrile/water/acetic acid (45/7/8 v/v), and a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min. The operating pH of the mobile phase (pH 2.45) was selected on the basis that it is ca. 2 pH units from the pKa of the drug, and hence reasonably insensitive to changes in mobile-phase preparation. The injection volume was 20 pi with a detection wavelength of 254 nm. They utihsed... 

An example of the minimum requirement for potency assay of the drug substance and drug product is tabulated in Table 4. Note that the postponement of intermediate precision is aligned with previous discussion that the use of early phase analytical method resides mainly in one laboratory and is used only by a very limited number of analysts. Each individual company s phased method validation procedures and processes will vary, but the overall philosophy is the same. The extent of and expectations from early phase method validation are lower than the requirements in the later stages of development. The validation exercise becomes larger and more detailed and collects a larger body of data to ensure that the method is robust and appropriate for use at the commercial site. 

Analytical Development of API and Drug Products. Early methods to support synthetic and formulation developments are often developed in the form of potency assay, impurities/related substance assay, dissolution, Karl Fischer, identity, chiral method, and content uniformity. These analytical methods are developed and validated in a fast and timely manner to support all phase II studies. 

Agbaba et al. [56] developed an HPTLC method for the determination of omeprazole, pantoprazole, and their impurities omeprazole sulfone and N-methylpantoprazole in pharmaceutical. The mobile phase chloroform-2-propanol 25% ammonia-acetonitrile (10.8 1.2 0.3 4), enables good resolution of large excesses of the drugs from the possible impurities. Regression coefficients (r > 0.998), recovery (90.7-120.0%), and detection limit (0.025-0.05%) were validated and found to be satisfactory. The method is convenient for quantitative analysis and purity control of the compounds. 

El-Sherif et al. [79] developed and validated a reversed-phase HPLC method for the quantitative determination of omeprazole and two other proton pump inhibitors in the presence of their acid-induced degradation products. The drugs were monitored at 280 nm using Nova-Pak Ci8 column and mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate-methanol-acetonitrile (5 3 2). Linearity range for omeprazole was 2-36 fig/ml. The recovery of omeprazole was 100.50 0.8%, and the minimum detection was 0.54 /zg/ml. The method was applied to the determination of pure, laboratory prepared mixtures, and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The results were compared with the official USP method for omeprazole. 

Arun et al. [30] developed and validated a rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the estimation of buclizine hydrochloride in tablet dosage form. The stationary phase used was precoated silica gel 60 F254. The mobile phase used was a mixture of methanol chloroform ammonia (8 1 1). The detection of spots was carried out at 234 nm. The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, and specificity. The calibration curve was linear between 100 and 700 ng/spot. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification were 20 and 100 ng/spot, respectively. The method can be used to determine the drug content of tablet dosage formulation. 

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