Metabolite Bioanalysis in Drug Development: Recommendations from the IQ Consortium Metabolite Bioanalysis Working Group.

The intent of this perspective is to share the recommendations of the International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development Metabolite Bioanalysis Working Group on the fit-for-purpose metabolite bioanalysis in support of drug development and registration. This report summarizes the considerations for the trigger, timing, and rigor of bioanalysis in the various assessments to address unique challenges due to metabolites, with respect to efficacy and safety, which may arise during drug development from investigational new drug (IND) enabling studies, and phase I, phase II, and phase III clinical trials to regulatory submission. The recommended approaches ensure that important drug metabolites are identified in a timely manner and properly characterized for efficient drug development.

Quantitative determination of free/bound atazanavir via high-throughput equilibrium dialysis and LC-MS/MS, and the application in ex vivo samples.

AIM: The determination of drug-protein binding is important in the pharmaceutical development process because of the impact of protein binding on both the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs. Equilibrium dialysis is the preferred method to measure the free drug fraction because it is considered to be more accurate. The throughput of equilibrium dialysis has recently been improved by implementing a 96-well format plate. Results/methodology: This manuscript illustrates the successful application of a 96-well rapid equilibrium dialysis (RED) device in the determination of atazanavir plasma-protein binding. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: This RED method of measuring free fraction was successfully validated and then applied to the analysis of clinical plasma samples taken from HIV-infected pregnant women administered atazanavir. Combined with LC-MS/MS detection, the 96-well format equilibrium dialysis device was suitable for measuring the free and bound concentration of pharmaceutical molecules in a high-throughput mode.

Sensitivity-based analytical approaches to support human absolute bioavailability studies.

The characterization of absolute bioavailability (BA) is useful for non-intravenous (iv.) formulations during drug development and is required by some health authorities. A study design of co-administrating an iv. isotopically labeled microdose with a therapeutic oral dose is a viable approach for the determination of human PK and has been accepted by regulatory agencies. The implementation of an iv.-microdose with oral therapeutic dose in absolute BA studies speeds up clinical development. In recent years, AMS to measure a radiolabeled microdose has been utilized to support several clinical absolute BA studies. An alternative approach for conducting microdose studies is using LC-MS/MS alone to quantitate both the iv. drug and the oral drug. Because both labeled and unlabeled drugs can be measured simultaneously with LC-MS/MS, it is cost effective. However, for compounds with high volume of distribution and/or poor LC-MS/MS response, AMS still provides a superior LLOQ. In this Perspective, we discuss a paradigm for selecting either an LC-MS/MS or AMS-based approach for generating concentration data in absolute BA studies dependent on the required sensitivity.

Simultaneous oral therapeutic and intravenous ¹4C-microdoses to determine the absolute oral bioavailability of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin.

AIM: To determine the absolute oral bioavailability (F(p.o.) ) of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin using simultaneous intravenous ¹4C-microdose/therapeutic oral dosing (i.v.micro + oraltherap). METHODS: The F(p.o.) values of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin were determined in healthy subjects (n = 7 and 8, respectively) following the concomitant administration of single i.v. micro doses with unlabelled oraltherap doses. Accelerator mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry were used to quantify the labelled and unlabelled drug, respectively. RESULTS: The geometric mean point estimates (90% confidence interval) F(p.o) . values for saxagliptin and dapagliflozin were 50% (48, 53%) and 78% (73, 83%), respectively. The i.v.micro had similar pharmacokinetics to oraltherap. CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneous i.v.micro + oraltherap dosing is a valuable tool to assess human absolute bioavailability.

Overcoming bioanalytical challenges in an Onglyza(®) intravenous [(14)C]microdose absolute bioavailability study with accelerator MS.

BACKGROUND: An absolute bioavailability study that utilized an intravenous [(14)C]microdose was conducted for saxagliptin (Onglyza(®)), a marketed drug product for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Concentrations of [(14)C]saxagliptin were determined by accelerator MS (AMS) after protein precipitation, chromatographic separation by UPLC and analyte fraction collection. A series of investigative experiments were conducted to maximize the release of the drug from high-affinity receptors and nonspecific adsorption, and to determine a suitable quantitation range. RESULTS: A technique-appropriate validation demonstrated the accuracy, precision, specificity, stability and recovery of the AMS methodology across the concentration range of 0.025 to 15.0 dpm/ml (disintegration per minute per milliliter), the equivalent of 1.91-1144 pg/ml. Based on the study sample analysis, the mean absolute bioavailability of saxagliptin was 50% in the eight subjects with a CV of 6.6%. Incurred sample reanalysis data fell well within acceptable limits. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the optimized sample pretreatment and chromatographic separation procedures were critical for the successful implementation of an UPLC plus AMS method for [(14)C]saxagliptin. The use of multiple-point standards are useful, particularly during method development and validation, to evaluate and correct for concentration-dependent recovery, if observed, and to monitor and control process loss and operational variations.

Liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of saxagliptin and its major pharmacologically active 5-monohydroxy metabolite in human plasma: method validation and overcoming specific and non-specific binding at low concentrations.

A liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine the concentrations of saxagliptin (Onglyza™, BMS-477118) and its major active metabolite, 5-hydroxy saxagliptin to support pharmacokinetic analyses in clinical studies. The dynamic range of the assay was 0.1-50 ng/mL for saxagliptin and 0.2-100 ng/mL for 5-hydroxy saxagliptin. Protein precipitation (PPT) with acetonitrile was used to extract the analytes from plasma matrix before injecting on an Atlantis(®) dC18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 5 µm) for LC-MS/MS analysis. The sample pre-treatment process was carefully controlled to disrupt DPP4-specific binding and non-specific binding observed at lower concentrations. The recoveries for both analytes were >90%. The assay was selective, rugged and reproducible; storage stability of at least 401 days at -20°C was demonstrated. Under these chromatographic conditions, the isomers of saxagliptin and 5-hydroxy saxagliptin were chromatographically separated from saxagliptin and 5-hydroxy saxagliptin. The assay has been used to support multiple clinical studies and regulatory approvals.

Liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry for the quantitative determination of ixabepilone (BMS-247550, Ixempra) in human plasma: method validation, overcoming curve splitting issues and eliminating chromatographic interferences from degradants.

A sensitive method was developed and validated for the measurement of ixabepilone (BMS-247550, Ixempra) using a demethylated analogue of ixabepilone (BMS-212188) as an internal standard. A 0.050 mL portion of each plasma sample was extracted with 0.450 mL of acetonitrile containing the internal standard via protein precipitation. The supernatant was analyzed on a LC-MS/MS system. Chromatography was carried out on a 2.0 mm x 100 mm YMC ODS-AQ 3 microm column using an isocractic mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:10 mM ammonium acetate, pH 5.0 (70:30, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.30 mL/min. The mass spectrometer was fitted with a TurboIonSpray source and operated in negative ionization mode. Detection of ixabepilone and BMS-212188 were accomplished using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of precursor>product ion pairs of m/z 505.2>405.2, and 492.1>392.1, respectively. The assay range was 2.00-500 ng/mL and was fitted to a 1/x(2) weighted quadratic regression model. Replicate sample analysis indicated that intra- and inter-day accuracy and precision are within +/-15.0%. The recovery of ixabepilone from 0.050 mL of plasma containing 5.00 and 400 ng/mL was greater than 94%. The method was demonstrated to be sensitive, selective and robust, and was successfully used to support clinical studies. This paper also discussed approaches used for resolving a curve splitting issue observed during quantitative analysis of ixabepilone in biological matrices. Finally, to adapt the methodology to pharmacokinetics of ixabepilone after oral administration, the potential interference of chemical degradants on the determination of ixabepilone was evaluated.

Quantitative determination of a novel dual PPAR alpha/gamma agonist using on-line turbulent flow extraction with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Turbulent flow chromatograph (TFC) is a technique for the direct and efficient analysis of drugs and metabolites in biological matrices. We report here TFC on-line with an HPLC-MS/MS assay for the determination of 5-[2,4-dioxothiazolidin-5-yl)methyl]-2-methoxy-N-[[(4-trifluoromethyl)phenyl]methyl]benzamide (I, MK-0767, KRP297, Fig. 1) in plasma. Samples were transferred using an automated system followed by the addition of internal standard (II), prepared in 0.1 M ammonium acetate (pH 4.0). The plasma samples were directly injected onto a C18 turbulent flow column on-line with an HPLC-MS/MS system, and the analytical column used was a ThermoHypersil Keystone C18. Detection was achieved by MS/MS, using positive ionization on a TurboIonSpray probe, operated in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The linear range was 4-2000 ng/mL for I when using 50 microL of plasma. The method exhibited good linearity and reproducibility. The method also showed good selectivity and ruggedness when applied to clinical samples, and was successfully cross-validated with a conventional off-line SPE, LC-MS/MS method.