Earth-friendly spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous determination of ledipasvir and sofosbuvir: Application to average content and uniformity of dosage unit testing

Development and validation of colorimetric-assisted chemometrics methods based on the localized gold nanoparticles surface plasmon resonance for fast simultaneous estimation of anti-hepatitis C virus drugs in their combined dosage form: A comparative study with HPLC method

The present work describes a developed analytical method based on a colorimetric assay using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) along with chemometric techniques for the simultaneous estimation of sofosbuvir (SOF) and ledipasvir (LED) in their synthetic mixtures and tablet dosage form. The applied chemometric approaches were continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM). Characterization of AuNPs and AuNPs in combination with the drug was performed by UV-vis spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In the CWT method, the zero amplitudes were determined at 427 nm with Daubechies wavelet family for SOF (zero crossing point of LED) and 440 nm with Symlet wavelet family for LED (zero crossing point of SOF) over the concentration range of 7.5-90.0 μg/L and 40.0-100.0 μg/L with coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.9974 and 0.9907 for SOF and LED, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of this method were found to be 7.92, 9.96 μg/L and 12.02, 30.2 μg/L for SOF and LED, respectively. In the LS-SVM model, the mean percentage recovery of SOF and LED in synthetic mixtures was 98.29 % and 99.25 % with root mean square error of 2.392 and 1.034, which were obtained by the optimization of regularization parameter (γ) and width of the function (σ) based on the cross-validation method. The proposed methods were also applied for the determination concentration of SOF and LED in the combined dosage form, recoveries were higher than 95 %, and relative standard deviation (RSD) values were lower than 0.4 %. The achieved results were statistically compared with those obtained from the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique for the concurrent estimation of components through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and no significant difference was found between the suggested approaches and the reference one. According to these results, simplicity, high speed, lack of time-consuming process, and cost savings are considerable benefits of colorimetry along with chemometrics methods compared to other ways.

Eco-friendly resolution of spectrally overlapping signals of a combined triple-action over-the-counter pharmaceutical formulation for symptomatic management of COVID-19 pandemic: application to content uniformity testing

Currently, all researchers are concentrating their efforts on countering the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of patients are managed at home, according to recent statistics. An OTC triple action combination comprising paracetamol (PAR), aspirin (ASP), and diphenhydramine (DIPH) is commonly given for pain relief, fever control, and as a night-time sleep aid. This combination is currently recommended for COVID-19 patients as part of symptomatic treatment and management. In this work, three smart, simple, accurate, eco-friendly, and cost-effective spectrophotometric methods are developed for simultaneous determination of PAR, ASP, and DIPH in their combined over-the-counter caplet dosage form without any prior separation steps. The first method is the first derivative spectrophotometry (D¹) which determined PAR at 259.7 nm. The second one is the dual-wavelength in ratio spectra (DWRS) for determination of ASP at 214.1 and 220.1 nm after using 10.0 μg/mL of PAR as a divisor, where PAR was a constant, and the wavelengths difference equal to zero for DIPH. The third method is the double divisor-ratio difference spectrophotometric one (DD-RD) which was based on using the sum of 15.0 µg/mL of each of PAR and ASP as a double divisor, and the difference in amplitudes was measured at two wavelengths ∆P_{(214.5–226.0)} for determination of DIPH. The developed methods have been validated as per ICH guidelines. Furthermore, the three suggested methods were employed successfully to assay marketed pharmaceutical formulation and to investigate the content uniformity of the dosage units in accordance with the United States Pharmacopeia's guidelines. Finally, the greenness profile of the proposed methods was assessed and compared with the reported method using the analytical eco-scale system, national environmental method index (NEMI), green analytical procedure index (GAPI), and analytical greenness (AGREE) metric. The results from the proposed methods statistically agreed with those obtained by the reported one, with no significant differences in accuracy and precision.

Fingerprinting and iso-absorptive resolution techniques for the spectrally overlapping Dutasteride and Silodosin mixture: Content uniformity testing along with greenness profile assessment

The realm of spectrophotometric analysis has witnessed a remarkable progress in inventing faster and simpler resolution techniques for spectrally overlapping drug mixtures. Eco-friendly and progressive spectrophotometric methods were firstly developed in this work, for the simultaneous determination of Dutasteride (DUT) and Silodosin (SLD) in their newly-marketed dosage form. The proposed methods focused on the unique spectral features of this mixture including spectral extension of SLD over DUT spectrum as well as existence of iso-absorptive points. By such way, the methods were classified into two categories; the first one was "fingerprint resolution techniques" including constant extraction coupled with spectrum subtraction and ratio subtraction coupled with constant multiplication methods. The former represented a new modification to the classical constant extraction method where one divisor and lower steps were manipulated instead. The second category was "iso-absorptive resolution techniques", such as absorptivity centering, absorbance subtraction and amplitude modulation methods. Different solvents were investigated where ethanol was found to be the optimum one regarding drugs solubility, signal sensitivity and environmental, health & safety (EHS) score. Validity of the suggested methods was assessed as per ICH-guidelines and found to be linear over concentration ranges of 5.0-90.0 µg/mL for DUT and 5.0-120.0 µg/mL for SLD. The methods were successfully applied for quantifying the cited drugs in their combined dosage form and evaluating their content uniformity. Moreover, the insignificant statistical difference between the proposed methods and official HPLC ones encourages the utilization of such spectrophotometric methods as greener and faster candidates, especially in modest quality control laboratories. Methods' greenness profile was finally guaranteed through several assessment tools, namely; national environmental methods index (NEMI), analytical eco-scale, green analytical procedure index (GAPI) and analytical greenness (AGREE) metric.

Computational design for eco-friendly visible spectrophotometric platform used for the assay of the antiviral agent in pharmaceutical dosage form

Nowadays, the analytical community is focusing on developing new analytical methods that incorporate principles of green analytical chemistry to reduce adverse impacts on the environment and humans. In this study, we focused specifically on establishing a correlated connection between theoretical and experimental applications via developing green, and eco-friendly visible spectrophotometric methods. These methods were relied on charge-transfer complexation (CTC) between ledipasvir and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), or chloranilic acid (CA) for sensitive colorimetric analysis of ledipasvir in the presence of sofosbuvir (Sofolanork plus®). The results were evaluated as modern computational chemistry using molecular modeling technology. At ambient temperature, the reactions for DDQ and CA took 15 and 10 min, respectively, to produce a purple red-colored solution with DDQ absorbing maximally at 588 nm and a purple-colored solution with CA absorbing maximally at 522 nm. Linearity was achieved for ledipasvir utilizing DDQ and CA in the concentration ranges of 8-80 µg.mL^-1 and 40-400 µg.mL^-1, respectively. The precision and accuracy of the methods mentioned were determined. Finally, the results were statistically compared to a previously published spectrophotometric technique, and no significant differences were found.

Innovative derivative/zero ratio spectrophotometric method for simultaneous determination of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir: Application to average content and uniformity of dosage units

An innovative simple, rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of sofosbuvir (SOF) and ledipasvir (LED) in their combined dosage forms. Sofosbuvir with ledipasvir (SOF/LED) as a combined dosage form was tried at the pandemic COVID 19 crisis. This technique has the advantages of both zero order and first order spectrophotometry. The zero and first derivative amplitudes were measured at 274.2 nm for SOF (zero crossing point of LED in first derivative spectrum) and 314 nm for LED (zero crossing point of SOF in first derivative spectrum) over the concentration range of 2.0-50.0 μg mL^-1 with coefficients of determination (R²) > 0.9999 for both drugs and mean percentage recoveries of 100.25 ± 1.61 and 99.85 ± 0.99 for SOF and LED; respectively. This original method was validated according to ICH requirements and statistically compared to published comparison methods. This method was applied to estimate the average content and the uniformity of dosage units of SOF/LED combined dosage form according to British Pharmacopeia requirements.

Simultaneous estimation of recently FDA approved co-formulated ophthalmic solution benoxinate and fluorescein: Application to aqueous humor

Nine simple, cost-effective, and sensitive spectrophotometric methods were developed to simultaneously assay benoxinate HCl and fluorescein sodium in their co-formulated eye drops without barring common excipients. A direct UV spectrophotometric method (method I) was developed for their FLU assay at 481 nm over the concentration range of 0.6-10.0 μg mL^-1. Meanwhile, BEN was assayed over the concentration range of 1.0-25.0 μg mL^-1 by different UV based methods, namely, conventional dual-wavelength method (DW) (method II), first derivative¹D spectrophotometry (method III), second derivative²D spectrophotometry (method IV), ratio spectra difference spectrophotometry (method V), the first derivative of ratio spectra (method VI), ratio subtraction method (method VII), isosbestic point method (ISP) (method VIII) and absorption factor method (method IX). The performance of the proposed methods was assessed relying on the correlation coefficients, relative standard deviations, and limits of detection and quantitation. The variance ratio F-test and Student t-test showed no significant differences between the obtained results of the developed methods and those of reference methods. The proposed methods were also applied to determine studied drugs in commercial eye drops and aqueous humor.

Earth friendly spectrophotometric methods based on different manipulation approaches for simultaneous determination of aspirin and omeprazole in binary mixture and pharmaceutical dosage form: Comparative statistical study

Aspirin and omeprazole combining has proven their effectiveness clinically in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases in patient with gastric diseases and gastric ulcers. Simultaneous determination of omeprazole and aspirin in their combination is a challenge due to the overlapping spectra of these drugs. Six smart and different spectrophotometric methods were developed for the analysis of omeprazole and aspirin in binary mixture and pharmaceutical dosage form. These smart methods characterized by simplicity and accuracy. The first two methods based on minimal mathematical data processing based on the zero order absorption spectra were; dual wavelength and advanced absorbance subtraction methods. The third method is first and second derivative spectrophotometric method that based on derivative spectra. The last three methods based on ratio spectra manipulation are named; ratio difference, mean centering and derivative ratio spectrophotometric methods. The linearity range of omeprazole was 2-20 μg/mL for dual wavelength method and 2-30 μg/mL for the other ones, while aspirin showed a good linearity over a range of 2.5-30 μg/mL for all methods. The correlation coefficients were greater than 0.999. The results of the developed methods are statistically compared with each other and with the results of the reported HPLC method showing no significant difference. The greenness of the developed methods was assessed using eco-scale scoring method revealing excellent greenness of the applied methods. This spectrophotometric methods is more sensitive and greener with comparing by the reported one so, these developed methods are considered eco-friendly to the environment.

Multivariable Manipulation of Spectrophotometric Data with Genetic Algorithm Selection for Novel Quantitative Resolution of Five Antiviral Drugs in Their Pharmaceutical Products

BACKGROUND

In many real-world situations there are many components in a mixture that produce an enormous amount of information.

OBJECTIVE

The main task is to build up balanced models that convert these data into meaningful information to deal with. Hence, different chemometric models were applied for the analysis of data obtained from a mixture containing sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, velpatasvir, daclatasvir, and valacyclovir that were recently used internationally for their antiviral activity.

METHODS

Partial Least Squares, Spectral Residual Augmented Classical Least Squares, and Concentration Residual Augmented Classical Least Squares designs were applied with and without variable selection procedure [Genetic Algorithm (GA)]. The methods were used for the quantitative analysis of the drugs in laboratory prepared mixtures and real market sample through handling the UV spectral data.

RESULTS

Robust models were obtained by applying GA. The proposed methods were found to be rapid, simple, and required no preliminary separation steps.

CONCLUSION

These models can be used on a routine basis in quality control laboratories or factories giving competitor results to those obtained by the reported methods.

HIGHLIGHTS

The proposed models offer a powerful analytical alternative for laboratories that consider economic strategies in their requirements.

Feasible TLC-Spectro-Densitometry Technique for Simultaneous Determination of Two Hepatitis C Antiviral Drugs, Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir: Application to Combined Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms and Human Plasma

A high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method was developed and validated for the concurrent determination of simeprevir (SMV) and sofosbuvir (SOF). The chromatographic separation was attained on silica gel 60 F254 as stationary phase and ethyl acetate-hexane-methanol (5.0:4.0:1.0, v/v/v) as developing solvent with UV detection at 273 nm. The RF values were 0.67±0.02 and 0.43±0.02 for SMV and SOF, respectively. The method has been validated in respect to the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization. Linearity was maintained between 60-1,000 and 70-1,200 ng/band for SMV and SOF, respectively, with good correlation coefficients (0.9993-0.9997) for both drugs. The suggested method was highly sensitive as the calculated detection limits were 15 and 22 ng/band, while the quantitation limits were 44 and 66 ng/ band for SMV and SOF, respectively. The suggested methodology has been effectively employed for the determination of the mentioned drugs in their pure forms and their pharmaceutical dosage forms as well as human plasma without significant interference of the pharmaceutical excipients or plasma components.

A Review on Analytical Strategies for the Assessment of Recently Approved Direct Acting Antiviral Drugs

Human beings are in dire need of developing an efficient treatment against fierce viruses like hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Coronavirus (COVID-19). These viruses have already caused the death of over two million people all over the world. Therefore, over the last years, many direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAADs) were developed targeting nonstructural proteins of these two viruses. Among these DAADs, several drugs were found more effective and safer than the others as sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, grazoprevir, glecaprevir, voxilaprevir, velpatasvir, elbasvir, pibrentasvir and remdesivir. The last one is indicated for COVID-19, while the rest are indicated for HCV treatment. Due to the valuable impact of these DAADs, larger number of analytical methods were required to meet the needs of the clinical studies. Therefore, this review will highlight the current approaches, published in the period between 2017 to present, dealing with the determination of these drugs in two different matrices: pharmaceuticals and biological fluids with the challenges of analyzing these drugs either alone, with other drugs, in presence of interferences (pharmaceutical excipients or endogenous plasma components) or in presence of matrix impurities, degradation products and metabolites. These approaches include spectroscopic, chromatographic, capillary electrophoretic, voltametric and nuclear magnetic resonance methods that have been reported during this period. Moreover, the analytical instrumentation and methods used in determination of these DAADs will be illustrated in tabulated forms.

Rapid and sensitive UHPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir in human serum

Today, the direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) such as sofosbuvir (SOF) and ledipasvir (LED) are widely used to treat the hepatitis virus infection. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid, simple and valid method for simultaneous determination of SOF and LED in human plasma for bioavailability and pharmacokinetic studies. Chromatographic analysis was performed on the C₁₈ column (Blue Orchid, 1.8 μm, 50 × 2 mm) using 0.1 % formic acid in water (pH 2.6) and acetonitrile (60:40; v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The UV detector was set at 328 nm and 260 nm for analysis of SOF and LED, respectively. To 400 μL of plasma, 100 μL of clonazepam as the internal standard (I.S, 7 μg/mL) was added and the mixture subjected to liquid-liquid extraction using 1000 μL diethyl ether. The calibration curves were linear with coefficients of variation less than 8% for all analyses. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was 20 and 5 ng/mL for SOF and LED, respectively. The results of inter-day and intra-day precision showed good reproducibility and the total analysis time was 1.2 min. This method successfully applied for determination SOF and LED in four healthy volunteers.

Micelle sensitized synchronous spectrofluorimetric approaches for the simultaneous determination of simeprevir and ledipasvir: Application to pharmaceutical formulations and human plasma

Simeprevir (SMV) is commonly co-administered with ledipasvir (LDS) and sofosbuvir (SOF) as an effective combination regimen for treatment naive hepatitis C virus infected patients. In the present study, two spectrofluorimetric approaches were combined together for the development of highly sensitive, rapid, simple and accurate method for simultaneous quantification of SMV and LDS. The native fluorescence intensity values of SMV and LDS were enhanced by the addition of Tween-80 micellar system, while second derivative of the synchronous fluorescence intensity of the drugs at Δλ = 120 nm enabled the determination of both drug concomitantly. Different experimental parameters affecting the synchronous fluorescence of the cited drugs were carefully evaluated for their optimization. The peak amplitudes of the second derivative synchronous fluorimetry were measured at 429 nm for SMV and at 417 nm for LDS. The fluorescence-concentration plots were rectilinear over the range of 60-1500 and 36-540 ng mL^-1 with lower detection limits of 9.0 and 6.0 ng mL^-1 and quantification limits of 27.0 and 17.0 ng mL^-1 for SMV and LDS respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of both drugs in their pure forms as well as their pharmaceutical products and human plasma without any significant interference. Statistical comparison with the reported method revealed excellent accuracy and precision of the proposed method.

Micellar-based spectrofluorimetric method for the selective determination of ledipasvir in the presence of sofosbuvir: application to dosage forms and human plasma

A fast, low-cost, sensitive, and selective spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of ledipasvir was developed and validated. The method is based on an enhancement in the native fluorescence intensity of ledipasvir by 500% of its original value by the formation of hydrogen bonds between the cited drug and Tween-20 in the micellar system (pH = 5.0). All fluorescence measurements were carried out at 425 nm and 340 nm for emission and excitation wavelengths, respectively. A linear relationship between the concentration of ledipasvir and the observed fluorescence intensity was achieved in the range of 0.1-2.0 μg ml^-1 with 0.028, 0.084 μg ml^-1 , for detection and quantitation limits, respectively. The acquired selectivity and sensitivity using the proposed method facilitate the analysis of ledipasvir in spiked human plasma with sufficient percentage recovery (95.36-99.30%). The proposed method was developed and validated according to International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines. Moreover, the cited drug was successfully determined in its pharmaceutical dosage form using the proposed method. In addition, the validity of the proposed results was statistically confirmed using Student's t-test, variance ratio F-test, and interval hypothesis test.

Development and validation of a versatile HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of the antiviral drugs daclatasvir, ledipasvir, sofosbuvir and ribavirin in presence of seven potential impurities. Application to assay of dosage forms and dissolution studies

This study describes a simple, sensitive, specific and generic HPLC-DAD method for simultaneous determination of four drugs prescribed for treatment of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. Investigated drugs include daclatasvir (DAC), ledipasvir (LED), sofosbuvir (SOF) and ribavirin (RIB). Successful separation was accomplished using Thermohypersil BDS-C8 column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm) with gradient elution of the mobile phase consisted of mixed phosphate buffer pH 7.5 and methanol. Gradient elution started with 25% methanol, ramped up linearly to 80% in 15 min then kept constant till the end of the run. Flow rate was 1.5 mL/min. Peak areas were measured at 235, 260, 315, and 332 nm for RIB, SOF, DAC, and LED, respectively. Peaks of the analytes were perfectly resolved with retention times 2.0, 12.1, 14.7, and 17.2 min for RIB, SOF, DAC, and LED, respectively. The developed method was validated according to ICH guidelines with respect to system suitability, linearity, ranges, accuracy, precision, specificity, robustness, and limits of detection and quantification. The proposed method showed good linearity in the ranges 5-500, 2-300, 0.5-75, and 0.5-75 µg/mL for RIB, SOF, DAC, and LED respectively. Limits of detection were 0.10-0.66 μg/mL for the analyzed drugs. Specificity was established by separation of target drugs from 7 process-related impurities for SOF including its major metabolite (GS-331007). Applicability of the proposed method to real life situations was assessed through the analysis of four different pharmaceutical formulations and satisfactory results were obtained. Additionally, dissolution profiles of the 4 drugs were studied using the developed method.

Novel spectrofluorimetric approach for determination of ledipasvir through UV-irradiation: application to biological fluids, pharmacokinetic study and content uniformity test

A highly sensitive and specific fluorescence dependent approach was created for quantitation of a recently approved anti-HCV drug (ledipasvir). This approach relies on the innovative enhancement in fluorescence intensity of ledipasvir upon exposing the cited drug to direct UV irradiation as a photo-physical fluorescence enhancer. The fluorescence of the resultant solution was measured at an emission peak of 375 nm (321 nm excitation). The photoluminescence properties of the resultant product were carefully examined and the quantitative rectilinear concentration plot for the method was 5.0–150.0 ng mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.9 ng mL⁻¹ and a quantitation limit of 2.7 ng mL⁻¹. The excellent analytical features of the proposed method allow to the specific and sensitive estimation of ledipasvir either in plasma samples or in tablet dosage form without any interference from pharmaceutical excipients or other co-formulated anti-HCV drugs (sofosbuvir). The developed analytical and bio-analytical procedures were created and validated according to ICH guidelines and FDA guidelines, respectively. Since the main elimination route for ledipasvir is via faecal excretion, the studied drug was determined for the first time in faecal samples by the method with adequate recovery. Moreover, the pharmacokinetic parameters (C_max, t_max, t_1/2, AUC_0–t, and AUC_0–∞) for ledipasvir were determined by the proposed method. Additionally, the proposed method was successfully applied for supervising the content uniformity for ledipasvir in its pharmaceutical tablets.

Enhancement in the fluorescence spectra of ledipasvir after exposing to strong UV irradiation.