Compatibility and Stability of VARUBI (Rolapitant) Injectable Emulsion Admixed with Intravenous Granisetron Hydrochloride.

Prophylaxis or therapy with a combination of a neurokinin 1 (NK-1) receptor antagonist (RA), a 5-hydroxytryptamine- 3 (5-HT3) RA, and dexamethasone is recommended by international antiemesis guidelines for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting for patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy and for select patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. VARUBI (rolapitant) is a substance P/NK-1 RA that was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an injectable emulsion in combination with other antiemetic agents in adults for the prevention of delayed nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of emetogenic cancer chemotherapy, including, but not limited to, highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Granisetron Hydrochloride Injection USP is one of the 5-HT3 RAs indicated for the prevention of nausea and/or vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of emetogenic cancer therapy, including high-dose cisplatin. Herein, we describe the physical and chemical compatibility and stability of VARUBI (rolapitant) injectable emulsion (166.5 mg/92.5 mL [1.8 mg/mL], equivalent to 185 mg of rolapitant hydrochloride) admixed with Granisetron Hydrochloride Injection USP (1.0 mg/mL, equivalent to 1.12 mg/mL hydrochloride). Binary admixtures of VARUBI injectable emulsion and Granisetron Hydrochloride Injection USP were prepared and stored in VARUBI ready-to-use glass vials and in four types of commonly used intravenous administration (tubing) sets. Evaluation of the physical and chemical compatibility and stability of the admixtures in the VARUBI ready-to-use vials stored at room temperature (20°C to 25°C) under fluorescent light and under refrigeration (2°C to 8°C protected from light) was conducted at 0, 1, 6, 24, and 48 hours, and that of the admixtures in the intravenous tubing sets was evaluated at 0, 2, and 6 hours of storage at 20°C to 25°C. Physical stability was evaluated by visual examination of the container contents under normal room light, and measurement of turbidity, globule size, and particulate matter. Chemical stability was assessed by measuring the pH of the admixture and determining drug concentrations (potency) and impurity levels by high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis. The pH, turbidity, globule size, and particulate matter of all samples remained within narrow and acceptable ranges at all study time points, indicating that combining the two formulations into a binary admixture is physically and chemically compatible and stable. VARUBI injectable emulsion admixed with Granisetron Hydrochloride Injection USP demonstrated compatibility and stability in a ready-to-use glass vial for at least 24 hours at room temperature and 48 hours under refrigeration, as well as in the four intravenous tubing sets for at least 6 hours at 20°C to 25°C. No decrease of drug concentration (or potency) of any admixed components occurred in the samples stored at the two conditions and time periods studied based on high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis. The levels of impurities stayed below the safety limits set by International Conference on Harmonisation during the study period.

Crystal structure of a trapped catalytic intermediate suggests that forced atomic proximity drives the catalysis of mIPS.

1-L-myo-inositol-phosphate synthase (mIPS) catalyzes the first step of the unique, de novo pathway of inositol biosynthesis. However, details about the complex mIPS catalytic mechanism, which requires oxidation, enolization, intramolecular aldol cyclization, and reduction, are not fully known. To gain further insight into this mechanism, we determined the crystal structure of the wild-type mIPS from Archaeoglobus fulgidus at 1.7 Å, as well as the crystal structures of three active-site mutants. Additionally, we obtained the structure of mIPS with a trapped 5-keto-glucose-6-phosphate intermediate at 2 Å resolution by a novel (to our knowledge) process of activating the crystal at high temperature. A comparison of all of the crystal structures of mIPS described in this work suggests a novel type of catalytic mechanism that relies on the forced atomic proximity of functional groups. The lysine cluster is contained in a small volume in the active site, where random motions of these side chains are responsible for the progress of the complex multistep reaction as well as for the low rate of catalysis. The mechanism requires that functional groups of Lys-274, Lys-278, Lys-306, and Lys-367 assume differential roles in the protonation/deprotonation steps that must occur during the mIPS reaction. This mechanism is supported by the complete loss of activity of the enzyme caused by the Leu-257 mutation to Ala that releases the lysine containment.

Compatible solute effects on thermostability of glutamine synthetase and aspartate transcarbamoylase from Methanococcus jannaschii.

Methanococcus jannaschii accumulates alpha- and beta-glutamate as osmolytes. The effect of these and other solutes on the thermostability of two multisubunit metabolic enzymes from M. jannaschii, aspartate transcarbamoylase catalytic trimer (ATCase C3) and glutamine synthetase (GS), has been measured and compared to solute effects on bacterial mesophilic counterparts in order to explore if osmolytes accumulated by each organism can preferentially stabilize the proteins to thermal unfolding. For both ATCase enzymes and for the B. subtilis GS, the solutes normally accumulated by the organism were very effective in protecting the enzyme from losing activity at high temperatures, although solute effects on loss of secondary structure did not necessarily correlate with this thermoprotection of activity. The recombinant M. jannaschii GS exhibited quite different behavior. The pure enzyme had a thermal unfolding transition with a midpoint temperature (Tm) less than 60 degrees C, well under the growth temperature of the organism (85 degrees C). None of the small molecule solutes tested (including the K+-glutamate isomers accumulated by M. jannaschii) significantly stabilized the protein to incubation at 85 degrees C. Instead, protein-protein interactions, as illustrated by E. coli GroEL or ribosomal protein L2 stabilization of GS, appeared to be the dominant factor in stabilizing this archaeal enzyme at the growth temperature.

Probing the mechanism of the Archaeoglobus fulgidus inositol-1-phosphate synthase.

myo-Inositol-1-phosphate synthase (mIPS) catalyzes the conversion of glucose-6-phosphate (G-6-P) to inositol-1-phosphate. In the sulfate-reducing archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus it is a metal-dependent thermozyme that catalyzes the first step in the biosynthetic pathway of the unusual osmolyte di-myo-inositol-1,1'-phosphate. Several site-specific mutants of the archaeal mIPS were prepared and characterized to probe the details of the catalytic mechanism that was suggested by the recently solved crystal structure and by the comparison to the yeast mIPS. Six charged residues in the active site (Asp225, Lys274, Lys278, Lys306, Asp332, and Lys367) and two noncharged residues (Asn255 and Leu257) have been changed to alanine. The charged residues are located at the active site and were proposed to play binding and/or direct catalytic roles, whereas noncharged residues are likely to be involved in proper binding of the substrate. Kinetic studies showed that only N255A retains any measurable activity, whereas two other mutants, K306A and D332A, can carry out the initial oxidation of G-6-P and reduction of NAD+ to NADH. The rest of the mutant enzymes show major changes in binding of G-6-P (monitored by the 31P line width of inorganic phosphate when G-6-P is added in the presence of EDTA) or NAD+ (detected via changes in the protein intrinsic fluorescence). Characterization of these mutants provides new twists on the catalytic mechanism previously proposed for this enzyme.