US FDA released guidelines for bioanalytical method validation in 2001 and it became the basis for guidelines such as ANVISA and EMA. Even though there is a general agreement between these guidelines in terms of evaluation of validation parameters, significant diversity exists with respect to methodology employed. Present review compares and summarizes the regulatory guidelines issued by US FDA, ANVISA and EMA for bioanalytical method validation. This review also discusses evaluation of certain validation parameters such as matrix effect, incurred sample reanalysis, various stability aspects, effect of anticoagulant counter ions, specificity in the presence of concomitant medications, and identification of pharmacokinetic repeats wherein specific guidance and general consensus amongst scientific community does not exist.

Arterolane (RBx 11160) maleate is a novel, rapidly acting synthetic trioxolane antimalarial compound being developed by Ranbaxy Research Laboratories (Haryana, India). It is presently under phase III in combination with piperaquine phosphate. The present work reports the relationship between pharmacokinetic (PK) parameter (AUC(0-8h) on day 0/day 6) and indices of pharmacodynamic (PD) response (50% parasite clearance [PC(50)], 90% parasite clearance [PC(90)], parasite clearance time [PCT], recrudescence) from a phase II, double-blind, multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, dose-ranging trial. Patients with acute uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were randomized to 1 of 3 arterolane maleate (50, 100, and 200 mg) doses for 7 consecutive days. Plasma concentration data were available from 78, 76, and 75 patients receiving a 50-, 100-, and 200-mg dose, respectively. Based on PD modeling, its limitations and assumptions, minimum 150-mg dose arterolane maleate was recommended to optimize the probability of maximum therapeutic benefits for an adult. Doses higher than 100 mg are unlikely to reduce the probability of recrudescence. This study re-stresses the need of combining short and long-acting drugs to prevent resistance development and minimize recrudescence.

A simple, specific, and sufficiently sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (negative-ion electrospray ionization) methodology to determine mevalonic acid (MVA) in human plasma is described, and its application to the analysis of rat plasma MVA levels after rosuvastatin administration is demonstrated. The method was validated over the linearity range of 0.5-50.0 ng/ml (r 2 . 0.99) using deuterated MVA as an internal standard. The lower limit of quantification was 0.5 ng/ml. The assay procedure involved the isolation of MVA from plasma samples using solid-phase extraction. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a HyPurity Advance column with a mobile phase consisting of ammonium formate buffer (10 mM, pH 8.0) and acetonitrile (70:30, v/v). Excellent precision and accuracy were observed. MVA and deuterated mevalonolactone were stable in water and plasma under different storage and processing conditions. The recovery observed was low, which was attributable to a significant matrix effect. A significant decrease (30-40%; P , 0.05) was observed in rat plasma MVA levels after rosuvastatin administration. In the biosynthesis of cholesterol, the conversion of HMGCoA to mevalonic acid (MVA) by HMG-CoA reductase is an early and rate-limiting step (1-3). The statin class of drugs, such as simvastatin, atorvastatin, and rosuvastatin, act on HMG-CoA reductase, resulting in the inhibition of MVA biosynthesis (Fig. 1) (4, 5). Understanding the reason for increased cholesterol levels and interindividual variability in response to statin therapy can lead to better and monitored pharmacotherapy (6). Because the reduction of MVA levels is an indirect measure of decreased cholesterol levels, MVA can be used as a biomarker to measure the extent of statin activity.A large variety of methods have been published for MVA estimation in urine and plasma. These involve enzyme immunoassay (7), radioimmunoassay (2), and GC-MS methods (8-10). However, there are very few methods reported for liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) (11, 12).The main challenge in developing and validating a method for determining MVA in human plasma was that MVA is a polar, endogenous moiety that circulates in the blood stream at nanogram levels. In most methods, the extraction of MVA from plasma was carried out using ionexchange resins in the form of mevalonolactone (MVAL) (11,12). Complicated procedures such as column switching and gradient flow with long run times were followed (11). In a modified assay procedure, a polar-end-capped reverse-phase liquid chromatography column was used for the quantification of plasma MVA over a calibration range of 0.5-50 ng/ml in human plasma (12). This assay had the advantages of shorter run time and isocratic flow.These methods have reported recovery to be 50-87%. The procedure followed does not capture the effect of any constant impurity/substance that may suppress ionization. The exact recovery can be obtained by comparing the response of processed spiked plasma with that o...

Piperaquine phosphate is an orally active bisquinolone antimalarial drug that has been used for the past 3 decades. The authors report the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of piperaquine from a classical controlled phase I study. It was a double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, and single- and multiple-dose study. During the rising single-dose study, single ascending oral doses of 500, 750, 1000, 1250, and 1500 mg of piperaquine phosphate were administered, whereas in rising multiple-dose study, once-daily ascending oral doses of 500, 750, 1000, and 1500 mg were administered for 3 consecutive days. Pharmacokinetic analysis for both the rising single- and multiple-dose studies was done using the noncompartmental approach. The mean apparent terminal half-life ranged from 11 to 23 days. Increase in exposure was less than dose proportional and linear. Piperaquine concentrations were measurable up to 60 days postdose. Multiple peaks were observed in the plasma piperaquine concentration-time profiles and exhibited 3- to 7-fold accumulation following multiple dosing. Piperaquine was well tolerated following single and multiple doses.

No abstract