The U.S. government's medical countermeasure portfolio management for nuclear and radiological emergencies: synergy from interagency cooperation.

Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, emergency preparedness within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as at the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, received higher visibility, new mandates and increased funding. Emergency deployment teams increased the frequency of drills to enable better response to the health consequences of mass-casualty incidents. Interagency coordination has also continued to increase to more efficiently and effectively leverage federal resources toward emergency medical preparedness for both civilian and military populations.

Rapid radiation dose assessment for radiological public health emergencies: roles of NIAID and BARDA.

A large-scale radiological incident would result in an immediate critical need to assess the radiation doses received by thousands of individuals to allow for prompt triage and appropriate medical treatment. Measuring absorbed doses of ionizing radiation will require a system architecture or a system of platforms that contains diverse, integrated diagnostic and dosimetric tools that are accurate and precise. For large-scale incidents, rapidity and ease of screening are essential. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health is the focal point within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for basic research and development of medical countermeasures for radiation injuries. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority within the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response coordinates and administers programs for the advanced development and acquisition of emergency medical countermeasures for the Strategic National Stockpile. Using a combination of funding mechanisms, including funds authorized by the Project BioShield Act of 2004 and those authorized by the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, HHS is enhancing the nation's preparedness by supporting the radiation dose assessment capabilities that will ensure effective and appropriate use of medical countermeasures in the aftermath of a radiological or nuclear incident.

The USP Performance Verification Test, Part I: USP Lot P Prednisone Tablets: quality attributes and experimental variables contributing to dissolution variance.

PURPOSE: Beyond instrumental qualification, proficiency testing is not usually a prerequisite for many analytical procedures, given reliance on a manufacturer's assay validation coupled with regulatory review and inspection. Given the special features of the dissolution procedure, proficiency testing was put in place initially by pharmaceutical manufacturers and carried on by USP. Proficiency testing is designed to help ensure that execution of a dissolution procedure for solid oral dosage forms adequately supports administrative and legal decisions so that measurements made at different times, by different analysts, or with different methods can be confidently compared. USP has applied metrological principles to aid practitioners in carrying out the dissolution procedure alone and in collaborative studies to facilitate understanding potential sources of variability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study aimed to identify key dissolution variables associated with USP Lot P Prednisone Tablets in conjunction with the USP Performance Verification Test (PVT). Using five dissolution test assemblies from different manufacturers, at least four of six analysts determined percents prednisone dissolved on dissolution Apparatus 1 (basket) and Apparatus 2 (paddle) on each assembly. Six replicate experiments were performed on each analyst-assembly combination with a set of six to eight tablets in each experiment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Statistical analysis demonstrated that dissolution test assemblies were the largest factor contributing to dissolution variability. Inherent tablet variability was low, and USP Lot P Prednisone Tablets did not contribute importantly to dissolution variability. Contributions from analyst and analytical procedure also were estimated to be low.

The USP Performance Verification Test, Part II: collaborative study of USP's Lot P Prednisone Tablets.

PURPOSE: Periodic performance verification testing (PVT) is used by laboratories to assess and demonstrate proficiency and for other purposes as well. For dissolution, the PVT is specified in the US Pharmacopeia General Chapter Dissolution <711> under the title Apparatus Suitability Test. For Apparatus 1 and 2, USP provides two reference standard tablets for this purpose. For each new lot of these reference standards, USP conducts a collaborative study. METHODS: For new USP Lot P Prednisone Tablets, 28 collaborating laboratories provided data. The study was conducted with three sets of tablets: Lot O open label, Lot O blinded, and Lot P blinded. The blinded Lot O data were used for apparatus suitability testing. RESULTS: Acceptance limits were determined after dropping data due to failure of apparatus suitability, identification of data as unusual on control charts, or protocol violations. CONCLUSIONS: Results yielded acceptance criteria of (47, 82) for Apparatus 1 and (37, 70) for Apparatus 2. Results generally were similar for Lot P compared to results from Lot O except that the average percent dissolved for Lot P is greater than for Lot O with Apparatus 2.

A stability-indicating HPLC assay for metronidazole benzoate.

A simple and rapid stability-indicating HPLC assay procedure has been developed and validated for metronidazole benzoate. The HPLC conditions were as follows, column: Waters Symmetry C8, 5 microm packing, 4.6 mm x 250 mm; detection: UV at 271 nm; injection volume: 20 microl; mobile phase: acetonitrile-0.1% glacial acetic acid in monobasic potassium phosphate (0.01 M) (40:60, v/v); isocratic elution under ambient temperature at 2.0 ml min(-1). The procedure separated metronidazole benzoate and its potential degradation products, metronidazole and benzoic acid, in an overall analysis time of about 6 min with metronidazole benzoate eluting at about 5 min. The injection repeatability was 0.03%, and the intraday and interday repeatability were 0.4 and 0.7%, respectively. The procedure provided a linear response over the concentration range 0.2-800 microg ml(-1) (r=1.0000) with the limits of detection and quantitation 0.03 and 0.2 microg ml(-1), respectively. The solubilities of metronidazole benzoate in water, 0.01 M hydrochloric acid and 0.05 M phosphate buffer, pH 6.8, determined each in triplicate using the procedure, were 0.2 mg ml(-1) (R.S.D. 7%), 0.4 mg ml(-1) (R.S.D. 2%) and 0.2 mg ml(-1) (R.S.D. 8%), respectively. The results show no detectable hydrolysis of metronidazole benzoate in 0.01 M hydrochloric acid at 37 degrees C or in the mobile phase at ambient temperature in 10 h.