November 11th 2024
Pharmaceutical excipients, such as polyethylene glycol-based polymers, must be tested for the presence of ethylene oxide (EtO) and 1,4-dioxane as part of a safety assessment, according to USP Chapter <228>.
UHPLC and MS Techniques Aid in Pharmaceutical Research
November 22nd 2013LCGC recently spoke with Pauline Rudd of University College, Dublin, and The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) in Dublin, Ireland, about her work using ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) for the characterization of protein glycosylation.
Determination of Genotoxic Impurities in Pharmaceuticals
May 2nd 2013The determination of genotoxic impurities (GIs) in drug substances and pharmaceutical products is an emerging topic in pharmaceutical quality control. GIs are intermediates or reactants in the synthetic pathway of a drug substance and should be monitored at ppm (?g/g drug substance) or even ppb (ng/g) levels. This is several orders of magnitude lower than in classical impurity analysis (0.05% or 500 ppm level) or in residual solvent analysis. Analytical methods for the determination of GIs include gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC), both often combined with mass spectrometry (MS) detection. Some typical examples of GIs trace analysis using GC and LC are presented. The potential of on-line reaction monitoring is also discussed.
Advances in Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography for Pharmaceutical Analysis
May 2nd 2013Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) has recently become more important, particularly for the analysis of polar drugs, metabolites and biologically relevant compounds in glycomics, proteomics, metabolomics and clinical analysis. HILIC makes it possible to increase the retention of polar compounds, achieve orthogonal selectivity and increase mass spectrometry (MS) sensitivity, compared with reversed-phase liquid chromatography. This article discusses the advantages and limitations of HILIC in a variety of practical applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
"Critical to Quality" Measurements of Protein Aggregation in Biopharmaceuticals
January 15th 2013In biopharmaceutical development the stability of biological molecules in drug formulations is important. This article describes three different approaches to the measurement and quantification of aggregates in protein solutions, and highlights the range of information that each technique can provide about the sample.