Gerson Antônio Pianetti

Chloroquine and primaquine are the first-line treatment recommended by World Health Organization for malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax. Since the problem of counterfeit or substandard anti-malarials is well established all over the world, the development of rapid and reliable methods for quality control analysis of these drugs is essential. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a novel UPLC-DAD method for simultaneously quantifying chloroquine and primaquine in tablet formulations. The UPLC separation was carried out using a Hypersil C₁₈ column (50 × 2.1 mm id; 1.9 μm particle size) and a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% aqueous triethylamine, pH 3.0 adjusted with phosphoric acid (B), at a flow rate 0.6 mL/min. Gradient elution was employed. UV detection was performed at 260 nm. UPLC method was fully validated and the results were compared to a conventional HPLC-DAD method for the analysis of chloroquine and primaquine in tablet formulations. UPLC method was shown to be linear (r ² > 0.99), precise (CV < 2.0%), accurate (recovery rates from 98.11 to 99.83%), specific, and robust. No significant differences were observed between the chloroquine and primaquine contents obtained by UPLC and HPLC methods. However, UPLC method promoted faster analyses, better chromatographic performance and lower solvent consumption. The developed UPLC method was shown to be a rapid and suitable technique to quantify chloroquine and primaquine in pharmaceutical preparations and may be successfully employed for quality control analysis.

Ensuring the quality of malaria medicines is crucial in working toward malaria control and eventual elimination. Unlike other validated tests that can assess all critical quality attributes, which is the standard for determining the quality of medicines, basic tests are significantly less expensive, faster, and require less skilled labour; yet, these tests provide reproducible data and information on several critical quality attributes, such as identity, purity, content, and disintegration. Visual and physical inspection also provides valuable information about the manufacturing and the labelling of medicines, and in many cases this inspection is sufficient to detect counterfeit medicines. The Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme has provided technical assistance to Amazon Malaria Initiative (AMI) countries to implement the use of basic tests as a key screening mechanism to assess the quality of malaria medicines available to patients in decentralized regions.

Oxcarbazepine (OXC) is an important anticonvulsant and mood stabilizing drug. A pharmacopoeial monograph for OXC is not yet available and therefore the development and validation of a new analytical method for quantification of this drug is essential. In the present study, a UV spectrophotometric method for the determination of OXC was developed. The various parameters, such as linearity, precision, accuracy and specificity, were studied according to International Conference on Harmonization Guidelines. Batches of 150 mg OXC capsules were prepared and analyzed using the validated UV method. The formulations were also evaluated for parameters including drug-excipient compatibility, flowability, uniformity of weight, disintegration time, assay, uniformity of content and the amount of drug dissolved during the first hour.

A simple and rapid precipitation titration method was developed and validated to determine sulfate ion content in indinavir sulfate raw material. 0.1 mol L-1 lead nitrate volumetric solution was used as titrant employing potentiometric endpoint determination using a lead-specific electrode. The United States Pharmacopoeia Forum indicates a potentiometric method for sulfate ion quantitation using 0.1 mol L-1 lead perchlorate as titrant. Both methods were validated concerning linearity, precision and accuracy, yielding good results. The sulfate ion content found by the two validated methods was compared by the statistical t-student test, indicating that there was no statistically significant difference between the methods.

Two high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods for the quantitative determination of indinavir sulfate were tested, validated and statistically compared. Assays were carried out using as mobile phases mixtures of dibutylammonium phosphate buffer pH 6.5 and acetonitrile (55:45) at 1 mL/min or citrate buffer pH 5 and acetonitrile (60:40) at 1 mL/min, an octylsilane column (RP-8) and a UV spectrophotometric detector at 260 nm. Both methods showed good sensitivity, linearity, precision and accuracy. The statistical analysis using the t-student test for the determination of indinavir sulfate raw material and capsules indicated no statistically significant difference between the two methods