QbD based development of HPLC method for simultaneous quantification of Telmisartan and Hydrochlorothiazide impurities in tablets dosage form

Drilling into "Quality by Design" Approach for Analytical Methods

The need for consistency in analytical method development reinforces the dependence of pharmaceutical product development and manufacturing on robust analytical data. The Analytical Quality by Design (AQbD), akin to the product Quality by Design (QbD) endows a high degree of confidence to the method quality developed. AQbD involves the definition of the analytical target profile as starting point, followed by the identification of critical method variables and critical analytical attributes, supported on risk assessment and design of experiment tools for the establishment of a method operable design region and control strategy of the method. This systematic approach moves away from reactive troubleshooting to proactive failure reduction. The objective of this review is to highlight the elements of the AQbD framework and provide an overview of their implementation status in various analytical methods used in the pharmaceutical field. These methodologies include but are not limited to, high-performance liquid chromatography, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, capillary electrophoresis, supercritical fluid chromatography, and high-performance thin-layer chromatography. Finally, a critical appraisal is provided to highlight how regulators have encouraged AQbD principles application to boost the prevention of method failures and a better understanding of the method operable design region (MODR) and control strategy, ultimately resulting in cost-effectiveness and regulatory flexibility.

Analytical quality by design-based RP-HPLC method for quantification of pioglitazone and candesartan cilexetil in bilayer tablet and its forced degradation studies

Aim: The current project involves developing an RP-HPLC method for simultaneous quantification of Candesartan Cilexetil and Pioglitazone based on analytical quality by design (AQbD).

Materials and methods: When analysed in the Design Expert application, the critical method parameters were systematically refined using Central Composite Design and contours were derived for significant variables. A contour plot has been used to discover the technique operable design region that governs response variation, which is then empirically tested.

Results: Successful chromatographic separation of title analytes was achieved on kromasil C18 (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) column at 30 °C with mobile phase comprising 60% 20 Mm Potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate and 40% acetonitrile (v/v), isocratic elution pattern, 0.9 mL/min flow rate, and UV detection at 220 nm. The linear model for Candesartan Cilexetil was from 4 to 24 µg/ mL and Pioglitazone at 7.5–45 µg/ mL, respectively.

Conclusion: The method met all the ICH Q2 (R1) validation criteria. The current approach aided for analysing simultaneous drugs can be expanded into quantifying drugs in biological matrix predominance with maximum recovery.

Simultaneous Estimation of Escitalopram and Clonazepam in Tablet Dosage Forms Using HPLC-DAD Method and Optimization of Chromatographic Conditions by Box-Behnken Design

The study aimed to develop a new reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method with diode array detection (DAD) detection for simultaneous estimation of escitalopram (EST) and clonazepam (CZP) in tablet dosage forms with a quality by design (QbD) approach. The chromatographic conditions were optimized by Box-Behnken design (BBD) and developed method was validated for the linearity, system suitability, accuracy, precision, robustness, sensitivity, and solution stability according to International Council for Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. EST and CZP standard drugs peaks were separated at retention times of 2.668 and 5.046 min by C-18 column with dimension of 4.6 × 100 mm length and particle size packing 2.5 µm. The mobile phase was methanol: 0.1% orthophosphoric acid (OPA) (25:75, v/v), with a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min at temperature of 26 °C. The sample volume injected was 20 µL and peaks were detected at 239 nm. Using the standard calibration curve, the % assay of marketed tablet was founded 98.89 and 98.76 for EST and CZP, respectively. The proposed RP-HPLC method was able to detect EST and CZP in the presence of their degradation products, indicating the stability-indicating property of the developed RP-HPLC method. The validation parameter’s results in terms of linearity, system suitability, accuracy, precision, robustness, sensitivity, and solution stability were in an acceptable range as per the ICH guidelines. The newly developed RP-HPLC method with QbD application is simple, accurate, time-saving, and economic.

Implementation of QbD Approach to the Analytical Method Development and Validation for the Estimation of Metformin Hydrochloride in Tablet Dosage Forms by HPLC

The current studies entail quality by design (QbD)-enabled development of a simple, rapid, precise, accurate, and cost-effective high-performance liquid chromatographic method for estimation of metformin hydrochloride (M-HCl). Design of experiments (DoE) was applied for multivariate optimization of the experimental conditions of the HPLC method. Risk assessment was performed to identify the critical method parameters (CMPs) using Ishikawa diagram. The factor screening studies were performed using a two-factor three-levels design. Two independent factors, buffer pH and mobile phase composition, were used to design mathematical models. Central composite design (CCD) was used to study the response surface methodology and to study in depth the effects of these independent factors, thus evaluating the critical analytical attributes (CAAs), namely, retention time, peak area, and symmetry factor as the parameters of method robustness. Desirability function was used to simultaneously optimize the CAAs. The optimized and predicted data from contour diagram consisted of 0.02 M acetate buffer pH = 3/methanol in a ratio of 70/30 (v/v) as the mobile phase with a flow rate 1 mL/min. The separation was made on a Thermoscientific ODS Hypersyl^TM chromatographic column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with oven temperature 35 °C and UV detection at 235 nm. The optimized assay conditions were validated according to ICH guidelines. Hence, the results clearly showed that QbD approach could be successfully applied to optimize HPLC method for estimation of M-HCl. The method was applied both for the evaluation of M-HCl content in tablets, and for in vitro dissolution studies of M-HCl from conventional and prolonged-release tablets.

An Overview of Advances in the Chromatography of Drugs Impurity Profiling

A systematic literature survey published in several journals of pharmaceutical chemistry and of chromatography used to analyze impurities for most of the drugs that have been reviewed. This article covers the period from 2016 to 2020, in which almost of chromatographic techniques have been used for drug impurity analysis. These chromatography techniques are important in the analysis and description of drug impurities. Moreover, some recent developments in forced impurity profiling have been discussed, such as buffer solutions, mobile phase, columns, elution modes, and detectors are highlighted in drugs used for the study. This primarily focuses on thorough updating of different analytical methods which include hyphenated techniques for detecting and quantifying impurity and degradation levels in various pharmaceutical matrices.

Recent Progresses in Analytical Perspectives of Degradation Studies and Impurity Profiling in Pharmaceutical Developments: An Updated Review

Forced degradation studies have been used to simplify analytical methodology development and achieve a deeper knowledge about the inherent stability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and drug products. This provides insight into degradation species and pathways. Identification of impurities in pharmaceutical products is closely related to the selection of the most appropriate analytical methods like HPLC-UV, LC-MS/MS, LC-NMR, GC-MS, and capillary electrophoresis. Herein, recent trends in analytical perspectives during 2018-April 14, 2021, are discussed based on forced and impurity degradation profiling of pharmaceuticals. Literature review showed that several methods have been used for experimental design and analysis conditions such as matrix type, column type, mobile phase, elution modes, detection wavelengths, and therapeutic category. Thus, since these factors influence the separation and identification of the impurities and degradation products, we attempted to perform a statistical analysis for the developed methods according to the abovementioned factors.

Estimation of pitavastatin and ezetimibe using UPLC by a combined approach of analytical quality by design with green analytical technique

The current study explores a design and development of the simple, fast, green and selective novel method of UPLC to quantify pitavastatin and ezetimibe simultaneously. The combined approach of Green Analytical Method with Quality by Design-based risk assessment was done using the Ishikawa fishbone diagram followed by a rotatable central composite design used for the optimization. The optimal chromatographic separation was attained through a mobile phase of 72: 28% v/v ethanol and 0.1% orthophosphoric acid (pH 3.5), with a 0.31 mL min−1 flow rate. The developed UPLC-PDA method was sensitive and specific for pitavastatin and ezetimibe, with linearity ranging from 2 to 30, 10–150 μg mL−1 with an R2 of 0.9999 and 0.9997, respectively. The forced degradation study of stability-indicating assay results shows the degradation in respective stress conditions. The developed UPLC method was validated and found to have sensible results with good linearity, accuracy and precision. Further, the greenness was evaluated using five states of art metrics like NEMI, GAPI, AES, AMGS, and AGREE metrics and found the greenest results. Based on the results we concluded that the developed UPLC method could be efficient for the simultaneous determination of pitavastatin and ezetimibe in bulk and tablet dosage.

A validated stability-indicating reversed-phase-HPLC method for dipyridamole in the presence of degradation products and its process-related impurities in pharmaceutical dosage forms

In this study, we developed and validated a method to determine dipyridamole-related impurities in pharmaceutical dosage forms using the reversed-phase-HPLC technique. All impurities were separated on a YMC pack C8 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 3.0 μm) analytical column using a suitable mobile phase. Mobile phase A was 10 mM concentration of phosphate buffer (pH adjusted to 4.7 by adding diluted orthophosphoric acid) and mobile phase B was buffer:acetonitrile:methanol (at the ratio of 30:40:30 v/v). The optimized chromatographic conditions used in the experiment were as follows: flow rate, 1.0 mL/min; injection volume, 10 μL and column temperature, 35°C. Chromatographic detection was performed at 295 nm. The stressed samples were analyzed for degradation under acidic, basic, peroxide, water hydrolysis, and physical degradation conditions. The proposed method was validated according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines, and found to be specific, linear, accurate and have a robust stability-indicating nature. The method showed excellent linearity from limit of quantification (LOQ) to 150% level of concentrations for all impurities. The correlation coefficient (r² ) for all impurities was between 0.995 and 0.999. The recovery study was performed from LOQ to 150% level concentrations, with mean recovery values between 92.9% and 103.2%, respectively. The developed method can be used to determine dipyridamole and its relative impurities. The degradation and validated study results indicate its stability-indicating nature. Therefore, the method can be used in pharmaceutical research and development and quality control departments.

A Rapid HPLC Method for the Concurrent Determination of Several Antihypertensive Drugs from Binary and Ternary Formulations

A rapid, synchronized liquid chromatographic method was established for the estimation of hydrochlorothiazide (HCZ), amlodipine (AMD), olmesartan (OLM), telmisartan (TEL), and irbesartan (IRB) in binary and ternary coformulations using the same chromatographic conditions. Five analytes were separated on a Zorbax C18 column using isocratic elution with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, methanol, and 20 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3.5) in a ratio of 45:20:35% v/v. The analytes were detected at a wavelength of 230 nm at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the proposed liquid chromatographic procedure was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy, stability, and robustness using an experimental design. Analytes were separated with good resolution within 3.5 min. Analytes showed good linearity in a concentration satisfactory to analyze the different ratios of these analytes in the formulations. Pareto charts showed that the flow rate and mobile phase composition have a significant effect on the peak area of analytes and hence need to be carefully controlled, however, the method is robust. Finally, the different formulations consisting of HCZ, AMD, OLM, TEL, and IRB in different ratios were analyzed with high accuracy using an optimized HPLC method and compared with reported methods. Furthermore, the reported HPLC procedure is simple, rapid, and accurate and therefore can used for regular quality control of binary and ternary formulations using the same stationary and mobile phase.

A rapid RP-HPLC stability-indicating method development and validation of moxifloxacin hydrochloride-related substances in finished dosage forms

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was developed and validated for the identification and quantification of moxifloxacin hydrochloride-related substances in finished dosage forms. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent C18 column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with the mobile phase (0.01 M potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate as buffer and methanol in the ratio of 70:30) eluted in isocratic mode. The HPLC flow rate was 1.0 mL min^-1 , and peaks were monitored at 230 nm using a photodiode array (PDA) detector. The column temperature was kept constant at 30°C, and the injection volume was 10 μL. The run time of the method was 16 min. The method was validated as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. Linearity was recorded at various concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 1.5 μg mL^-1 for all the moxifloxacin impurities. Linearity, regression value, recovery, %relative standard deviation (RSD) of method precision values were found within the acceptance limits. The method for related substances (RS) in moxifloxacin was found to be specific, linear, accurate, precise, rugged, and robust. The validated method was suitable for the quantification of the RSs in moxifloxacin drug products. The method was applied in quality control lab for the analysis of moxifloxacin impurities in stability analysis.

A simple and rapid HPLC method for determination of parabens and their degradation products in pharmaceutical dosage forms

A stability-indicating HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of paraben mixture and its degradation products in effervescent potassium chloride tablets. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters Cortecs C18 column (2.7 μm, 4.6 × 150 mm) using gradient elution. The optimized mobile phase consisted of 0.1% orthophosphoric acid in purified water as solvent A and purified water, acetonitrile, and orthophosphoric acid (100:900:1, v/v) as solvent B. The flow rate was 0.8 mL/min, and column temperature was maintained at 35°C. The injection volume was 10 μL, and UV detection was carried out at 254 nm. The selectively developed method has optimal separation among p-hydroxybenzoic acid, methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben peaks in the presence of specified and unspecified degradation products in the determination of drug product. The mass balance obtained from forced degradation studies was ≥95% and thus proves the stability-indicating property of the developed method. The developed reversed-phase HPLC method has been validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The correlation coefficients for all the peaks were >0.9999. The results of the other validation parameters were found within the limits. Finally, the optimized method was used in the quality control lab for stability analysis.

A simple alternative and improved HPLC method for the estimation of doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in solid oral dosage form

A novel method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of the doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in the pharmaceutical dosage form. The chromatogram was run through an Ascentis C18 column (150 × 4.6 mm, 2.7  μm), with the mobile phase consisting of a phosphate buffer and acetonitrile in the ratio of 50:50 (v/v). The mobile phase was pumped through the column at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The column temperature was maintained at 30°C. The optimized wavelength for doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate was 230.0 nm. The retention times for doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil were 2.222, 2.764, and 3.403 min, respectively; the relative standard deviation (%) values of method precision for doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil were 0.6, 0.6, and 0.1, respectively. The % recovery was 100.20%, 100.15%, and 100.36% for doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, respectively. The limit of detection and limit of quantification values were obtained from regression equations of doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, and were 0.24 and 0.73 ppm, 0.53 and 1.60 ppm, and 0.47 and 1.43 ppm, respectively. The regression equations of doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate were y = 17,541x + 117,303, y = 15,555x + 10,791, and y = 15,250x + 31,663, respectively. The method developed was accurate, simple, precise, sensitive, and economical. Hence, it could be adopted for regular quality control for estimation of doravirine, lamivudine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in pharmaceutical industries.

Low-level determination of 4-chlorobutyl-(S)-[4-chloro-2-(4-cyclopropyl-1,1,1-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-but-3yn-2-yl)phenyl] carbamate (4-CTHC) in efavirenz drug substance by LC-MS

A rapid, simple, sensitive, and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) test method was developed and validated for the trace level determination of 4-chlorobutyl-(S)-[4-chloro-2-(4-cyclopropyl-1,1,1-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-but-3yn-2-yl)phenyl] carbamate (4-CTHC). 4-CTHC is a potential genotoxic impurity in efavirenz drug substance and the acceptable level is 2.5 μg ml^-1 with respect to analyte concentration according to ICH M7(R1) Multidisciplinary Guidelines M7(R1). The LC-MS/MS analysis of 4-CTHC impurity was carried out on a Kinetex C₁₈ (150 × 4.6 mm, 5.0 μm) column. In this test procedure, the mobile phase was prepared with buffer (0.1% formic acid in water) and acetonitrile in the ratio of 1:3 (v/v). The method set flow rate was 0.4 ml min^-1 . The method was developed with a short run time of <10 min. Selective ion monitoring acquisition mode and negative polarity electrospray ionization mode were used as an MS method to quantify genotoxic impurities at 422.25 Da. The method showed linearity in a range of 0.64-3.71 μg ml^-1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9992. The RSD for intra-day and inter-day precision was found to be <5%. The method's accuracy was in the range of 106.5-112.4% for the genotoxic impurity of 4-CTHC. The procedure was validated as per the current ICH Q2 (R1) guidelines and proved suitable for stability testing in the quality control laboratory for pharmaceutical preparations.

Development and validation of LC-MS method for the determination of heptaethylene glycol monomethyl ether in benzonatate bulk drugs

A simple and isocratic reverse-phase liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric method has been developed and validated for the determination of heptaethylene glycol monomethyl ether in benzonatate drug substance. Benzonatate is an oral antitussive drug used to relieve and suppress cough in patients older than 10 years. The presence of residual heptaethylene glycol monomethyl ether in the benzonatate drug substance affects the safety, strength, purity and quality of the drug substance. The subject compound separation was achieved using 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile (50:50 v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. The Suplex PKB-100 250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm LC column was used for a better peak shape. Detection was carried out at an m/z value of 341. The linearity curve showed a correlation of coefficient of >0.999. The precision and intermediate precision (RSD) were <7.30. The accuracy values were >90% for all levels. The developed method was validated as per International Conference on Harmonization guidelines and found to be a novel, specific and sensitive analytical method for determination of components of interest.

Quality by design with design of experiments approach for development of a stability-indicating LC method for enzalutamide and its impurities in soft gel dosage formulation

A novel ultra-performance liquid chromatographic (UPLC) method has been developed and approved for the quantitative determination of enzalutamide (ENZ) and its impurities in drug product dosage form by applying the quality by design with design of experiments approach. An efficient chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters ACQUITY CSH C₁₈ (100 × 2.1 mm × 1.7 μm) column in gradient elution mode. A mixture of potassium phosphate monobasic buffer and acetonitrile (10 mm, adjusted to pH 4.0 with 1% orthophosphoric acid) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL min^-1 (column temperature at 40°C) under ultraviolet detection at 270 nm was used for quantitation. The peak resolution among ENZ and its impurities (Impurity-1, Impurity-2, Impurity-3, Impurity-4, Impurity-5, Impurity-6 and Impurity-7) was greater than 2.5. Regression analysis confers an R² value (correlation coefficient) higher than 0.999 for the active substance and impurities. The detection level for ENZ impurities was at a level below 0.015% (0.12 μg/mL). The accuracy levels for different compounds were close to 100%. The inter- and intra-day precisions for ENZ and impurities were evaluated and their relative standard deviation (%) values were less than 3.5. Our results show that the UPLC-UV stability-indicating method will be an essential tool that could determine the drug product's impurities and be useful in regular quality control and stability studies of the ENZ drug product dosage form.

Stability-indicating ultra performance liquid chromatography method development and validation for simultaneous estimation of metformin, linagliptin, and empagliflozin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage form

A rapid stability-indicating reversed phase-ultrapure liquid chromatography (RP-UPLC) was developed and validated for the estimation of metformin (MET), linagliptin (LIN), and empagliflozin (EMP) combination in bulk and tablet dosage form using Kromasil C₁₈ column (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.8 μm) as a stationary phase and a mixture solution of 40% phosphate buffer (pH = 3) and 60% acetonitrile as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. The detection was performed at 248 nm using a photodiode array detector. The linearity, sensitivity, selectivity, robustness, specificity, precision, and accuracy were determined. The peak area response-concentration curve was rectilinear over the range of 50-150 (MET), 5-15 (LIN), and 10-30 μg/mL (EMP) with quantitation limits of 0.042 (MET), 0.023 (LIN), and 0.059 μg/mL (EMP). The proposed method was successfully validated for the determination of MET, LIN, and EMP simultaneously in combined tablet dosage form. The performance of the proposed method was compared with reported RP-UPLC methods and found to be rapid and economical. The developed and validated stability-indicating RP-UPLC method was appropriate for the quality control and drug analysis.

Stability Indicating LC Method Development for Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate Impurities as Available for Treatment of COVID-19 and Evaluation of Risk Assessment Prior to Method Validation by Quality by Design Approach

A quality by design-based stability indicating HPLC method has been developed for hydroxychloroquine sulfate impurities. The optimized HPLC method can detect and quantify the hydroxychloroquine sulfate and related organic impurities in pharmaceutical solid oral dosage forms. Nowadays, for the quantification of impurities in drug products demands more comprehensive way of analytical method development. The quality by design approach allows the assessment of different analytical parameters and their effects with minimum number of experiments. A highly sensitive and stability indicating RP-HPLC method was developed and evaluated the risk assessment prior to method validation. The chromatographic separation was achieved with X-terra phenyl column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) using phosphate buffer (0.3 M and pH 2.5). The gradient method flow rate was 1.5 mL min-1 and UV detection was made at 220 nm. The calibration curve of hydroxychloroquine sulfate and related impurities were linear from LOQ to 150% and correlation coefficient was found more than 0.999. The precision and intermediate precision % RSD values were found less than 2.0. In all forced degradation conditions, the purity angle of HCQ was found less than purity threshold. The optimized method found to be specific, accurate, rugged, and robust for determination of hydroxychloroquine sulfate impurities in the solid oral dosage forms. Finally, the method was applied successfully in quality control lab for stability analysis.