Method for the analysis of S9788, a drug to reverse resistance to anticancer agents, in animal plasma and human plasma and serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.

An extraction method has been developed using benzene sulphonyl cation-exchange sample preparation cartridges and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection for the measurement of S9788, a drug to reverse resistance to anticancer agents, in plasma and serum. This includes a toxicokinetic assay which has a mean precision and accuracy of 11.7% and 7.9%, respectively, over the range 10-1000 ng ml-1 and a quantification limit of 10 ng ml-1 and a more sensitive pharmacokinetic procedure with a mean precision and accuracy of 5.0% and 7.9%, respectively, over the range 1-500 ng ml-1 and a quantification limit of 1 ng ml-1. The specificity of the procedure has been demonstrated by mass and ultraviolet spectrometry, and linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery and sensitivity have been established. The assays have been successfully applied to toxicokinetic and pharmacokinetic studies.

A new method for the measurement of nitrosoureas in plasma: an h.p.l.c. procedure for the measurement of fotemustine kinetics.

1. An analytical method for a novel nitrosourea, fotemustine, has been developed using solid-phase extraction and h.p.l.c. with u.v. detection. As part of the development, different methods for stabilising fotemustine after sample collection have been investigated. The method has been successfully applied to pharmacokinetic studies in monkeys and man. 2. Providing plasma was separated immediately from blood and frozen within 3 min of collection, negligible degradation of fotemustine occurred. The samples could then be stored at -20 degrees C in the dark for up to six days particularly if thawing prior to analysis was accelerated using a 50 degrees C water-bath so that it was complete within 3 min. Equivalent results were also obtained with samples stabilised with 0.1 M citric acid immediately after the preparation of plasma. 3. The analytical method showed good precision with a within-day variation ranging between +/- 10.7% at the lowest concentration investigated (0.1 micrograms ml-1) to 2.0% at 50.0 micrograms ml-1. The accuracy of measurement was from 108.9% to 97.6% at 0.1 and 50.0 micrograms ml-1 respectively and the response was linear up to 50 micrograms ml-1. The minimum level of quantitation was 20 ng ml-1. 4. After a single intravenous bolus dose of [14C]fotemustine (100 mg m-2) to Cynomolgus monkeys, intact drug levels rapidly declined (t1/2 12.6 +/- 0.5 min) although the half-life of radioactivity (approx 100 h) was much longer. The plasma clearance of fotemustine was 225 +/- 63 ml min-1 with a volume of distribution based on area of 4.1 +/- 1.2 litres. 5. As with monkey, plasma levels of intact fotemustine in a patient given [14C]-drug as a 1 h constant rate intravenous infusion (approx. 100 mg m-2), declined rapidly but with a half-life of 23.2 min. Again, the half-life for total radioactivity was considerably longer (30.8 h). The plasma clearance was 1426 ml min-1 and the volume of distribution based on area was 47.71.

Single- and multiple-dose pharmacokinetics of nufenoxole in healthy human subjects.

1. In 12 healthy subjects, after single doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg of nufenoxole, mean peak plasma drug concentrations of 400, 815 and 1463 ng/ml were reached at 2.2, 2.5 and 2.5 h respectively. 2. Nufenoxole was absorbed with an apparent half-life of less than one hour at all three doses. Nufenoxole concentrations declined biphasically after the peak, with an initial and terminal half-life of four to five hours and about 27 h respectively. These half-lives were independent of the administered dose. 3. AUC and Cmax increased with increasing dose, but AUC did not increase proportionately to dose, due to a lower value for 80 mg than expected, possibly reflecting reduced absorption. 4. Observed nufenoxole concentrations, in another 12 healthy subjects receiving single, daily 80 mg oral doses of nufenoxole for eight days, were in excellent agreement with those predicted from single-dose pharmacokinetics.