Researchers at the Universite de Montreal in Canada have developed and validated a new liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) method to identify compounds present in suspected counterfeit or even adulterated erectile dysfunction drugs. According to the study published in the Journal of Chromatography A, the method has now been introduced to the Inspectorate Laboratory Programme at Health Canada (Canada).
Researchers at the Université de Montréal in Canada have developed and validated a new liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS) method to identify compounds present in suspected counterfeit or even adulterated erectile dysfunction drugs. According to the study published in the Journal of Chromatography A, the method has now been introduced to the Inspectorate Laboratory Programme at Health Canada (Canada).1
The researchers applied LC–MS–MS to the analysis of 35 samples including: three legal tablets of Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra; six counterfeit Viagra tablets; four counterfeit Cialis; three counterfeit Levitra; nine tablets from unknown sources; eight herbal samples; and two gel capsules. The method took 10 min to perform.
Overall, 71 active ingredients and 11 natural ingredients were identified. The four most commonly found compounds were sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, and icariin. The paper reports that the method was up to five times faster than high-performance liquid chromatography with UV (HPLC–UV) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC–MS). – B.D.
Reference
1. P. Lebel, J. Gagnon, A. Furtos, and K. Waldron, Journal of Chromatography A1343, 143–151 (2014).
This article is from The Column. The full issue can be found here
AI and GenAI Applications to Help Optimize Purification and Yield of Antibodies From Plasma
October 31st 2024Deriving antibodies from plasma products involves several steps, typically starting from the collection of plasma and ending with the purification of the desired antibodies. These are: plasma collection; plasma pooling; fractionation; antibody purification; concentration and formulation; quality control; and packaging and storage. This process results in a purified antibody product that can be used for therapeutic purposes, diagnostic tests, or research. Each step is critical to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of the final product. Applications of AI/GenAI in many of these steps can significantly help in the optimization of purification and yield of the desired antibodies. Some specific use-cases are: selecting and optimizing plasma units for optimized plasma pooling; GenAI solution for enterprise search on internal knowledge portal; analysing and optimizing production batch profitability, inventory, yields; monitoring production batch key performance indicators for outlier identification; monitoring production equipment to predict maintenance events; and reducing quality control laboratory testing turnaround time.