Development and validation of a UPLC–MS/MS assay for the quantification of simotinib in human plasma

Globally Approved EGFR Inhibitors: Insights into Their Syntheses, Target Kinases, Biological Activities, Receptor Interactions, and Metabolism

Targeting the EGFR with small-molecule inhibitors is a confirmed valid strategy in cancer therapy. Since the FDA approval of the first EGFR-TKI, erlotinib, great efforts have been devoted to the discovery of new potent inhibitors. Until now, fourteen EGFR small-molecule inhibitors have been globally approved for the treatment of different types of cancers. Although these drugs showed high efficacy in cancer therapy, EGFR mutations have emerged as a big challenge for these drugs. In this review, we focus on the EGFR small-molecule inhibitors that have been approved for clinical uses in cancer therapy. These drugs are classified based on their chemical structures, target kinases, and pharmacological uses. The synthetic routes of these drugs are also discussed. The crystal structures of these drugs with their target kinases are also summarized and their bonding modes and interactions are visualized. Based on their binding interactions with the EGFR, these drugs are also classified into reversible and irreversible inhibitors. The cytotoxicity of these drugs against different types of cancer cell lines is also summarized. In addition, the proposed metabolic pathways and metabolites of the fourteen drugs are discussed, with a primary focus on the active and reactive metabolites. Taken together, this review highlights the syntheses, target kinases, crystal structures, binding interactions, cytotoxicity, and metabolism of the fourteen globally approved EGFR inhibitors. These data should greatly help in the design of new EGFR inhibitors.

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-MS/MS (UHPLC-MS/MS) in practice: analysis of drugs and pharmaceutical formulations

Background

UHPLC-MS/MS is connected in various research facilities for the qualitative and quantitative investigation of a pharmaceutical substance, pharmaceutical items, and biological specimen.

Main body

The commence review article is an endeavor to offer pervasive awareness around assorted aspects and details about the UHPLC-MS/MS and related techniques with the aim on practice to an estimation of medicinal active agents in the last 10 years. The article also focused on isolation, separation, and characterization of present impurity in drug and biological samples.

Conclusion

Review article compiles a general overview of medicinally important drugs and their analysis with UHPLC-MS/MS. It gives fundamental thought regarding applications of UHPLC-MS/MS for the study on safety limit. The summary of developed UHPLC-MS/MS methods gives a contribution to the future trend and limitations in this area of research.

Safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of simotinib, a novel specific EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: results of a phase Ib trial

Purpose: The aim of this phase Ib study (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01772732) was to assess safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PKs) of simotinib (a novel EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and EGFR gene mutation.

Patients and methods: 41 patients with EGFR gene mutations were enrolled and received simotinib orally administered twice daily with dose escalating from 100 to 650 mg in 28 days cycle. Safety and tolerability were assessed through the study. Blood samples were collected for PK analysis on Days 1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 22 and 29. Tumor response was assessed at baseline, on Day 29 and every 8 weeks thereafter.

Results: Simotinib was well tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities. Maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was not found. 95.1% of patients experienced at least one adverse event (AE), and most of them were mild or moderate. Rash (41.5%) and diarrhea (56.1%) were the most frequently reported AEs. Simotinib was rapidly absorbed and eliminated with average T_max ranging from 1 to 4 hrs and T_1/2 ranging between 6.2 and 13.0 hrs after multiple-dose administration. No dose–response relationship between dose and exposure was observed after multiple-dose administration. 39.3% of the enrolled patients achieved a partial response and 46.3% had stable disease. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 9.9 (CI% 4.7; 12.1) months and 14.6 (95%CI 12.3; 22.5) months, respectively.

Conclusion: Simotinib was well tolerated, with manageable AEs at doses of up to 650 mg and MTD was not reached. Further studies to explore higher doses are ongoing.

Quantitative Analysis of 10 Mycotoxins in Wheat Flour by Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry with a Modified QuEChERS Strategy

A simple and sensitive analytical method for quantitative analysis of 10 mycotoxins was developed and validated by a combination of modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) procedure with ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Sample preparation involved QuEChERS with dispersive solid phase extraction for clean-up, and analysis was performed by reversed-phase UHPLC-MS/MS using electrospray negative ionization and multiple reaction monitoring. Under optimized conditions, the calibration curves displayed good linear relationships with all coefficients of determinations (r² ) higher than 0.998. The limits of quantification for all target mycotoxins were lower than 7 μg/kg. Trueness and precision for the analytes were 70% to 116% average recoveries and 2% to 13% relative standard deviations (RSDs). The validated method was used to analyze 46 wheat flour samples for the targeted mycotoxins. The method can be used as a rapid and robust tool for screening mycotoxin in cereal products.