In this paper, an application of Quality by Design (QbD) concepts to the development of a stability indicating HPLC method for a complex pain management drug product containing drug substance, two preservatives, and their degradants is described. The QbD approach consisted of (i) developing a full understanding of the intended purpose, (ii) developing predictive solutions, (iii) designing a meaningful system suitability solution that helps to identify failure modes, and (iv) following design of experiments (DOE) approach. The starting method lacked any resolution among drug degradant and preservative oxidative degradant peaks, and peaks for preservative and another drug degradant. The method optimization was accomplished using Fusion AE™ software (S-Matrix Corporation, Eureka, CA) that follows a DOE approach. Column temperature (50 ± 5°C), mobile phase buffer pH (2.9 ± 0.2), initial % acetonitrile (ACN, 2 ± 1%), and initial hold time (2.5, 5, or 10 min) of the HPLC method were simultaneously studied to optimize separation of the unresolved peaks. The optimized HPLC conditions (column temperature of 50°C, buffer pH of 3.1, 3% initial ACN with 2.5 min initial hold) resulted in fully resolved peaks in the two critical pairs. The QbD based method development helped in generating a design space and operating space with knowledge of all method performance characteristics and limitations and successful method robustness within the operating space.

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