The γ-Secretase Modulator, BMS-932481, Modulates Aß Peptides in the Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid of Healthy Volunteers.

The pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety, and tolerability of BMS-932481, a γ-secretase modulator (GSM), were tested in healthy young and elderly volunteers after single and multiple doses. BMS-932481 was orally absorbed, showed dose proportionality after a single dose administration, and had approximately 3-fold accumulation after multiple dosing. High-fat/caloric meals doubled the Cmax and area under the curve and prolonged Tmax by 1.5 hours. Consistent with the preclinical pharmacology of GSMs, BMS-932481 decreased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aß39, Aß40, and Aß42 while increasing Aß37 and Aß38, thereby providing evidence of γ-secretase enzyme modulation rather than inhibition. In plasma, reductions in Aß40 and Aß42 were observed with no change in total Aß; in CSF, modest decreases in total Aß were observed at higher dose levels. Increases in liver enzymes were observed at exposures associated with greater than 70% CSF Aß42 lowering after multiple dosing. Although further development was halted due to an insufficient safety margin to test the hypothesis for efficacy of Aß lowering in Alzheimer's disease, this study demonstrates that γ-secretase modulation is achievable in healthy human volunteers and supports further efforts to discover well tolerated GSMs for testing in Alzheimer's disease and other indications.

A validated LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of BMS-791325, a hepatitis C virus NS5B RNA polymerase inhibitor, and its metabolite in plasma.

BMS-791325 is a hepatitis C virus (HCV) non-structural protein 5B (NS5B) RNA polymerase inhibitor that is being developed for the treatment of HCV infection. A rugged and accurate LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the quantitation of BMS-791325 and its metabolite, BMS-794712, in rat and dog plasma. This method utilized stable-isotope labeled [D6]-BMS-791325 and [13CD3]-BMS-794712 as internal standards. The samples were extracted using liquid-liquid extraction with n-butyl-chloride. Chromatographic separation was achieved with gradient elution on a Waters Atlantis dC18 analytical column (2.1mm×50mm, 3.0µm). Analytes and their stable isotope labeled internal standards were detected by positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The standard curves, which ranged from 5.00 to 2000ng/mL for BMS-791325 and from 1.00 to 400ng/mL for BMS-794712, were fitted to a 1/x2 weighted linear regression model. For both species, the intra-assay precision was within ±4.3% CV, the inter-assay precision was within ±6.2% CV, and the assay accuracy was within ±10.8% of the nominal values for BMS-791325 and BMS-794712. The validated method was successfully applied to support pre-clinical toxicokinetic studies.

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS assay for the quantitation of a PEGylated anti-CD28 domain antibody in human serum: overcoming interference from antidrug antibodies and soluble target.

AIM: To support drug development of a PEGylated anti-CD28 domain antibody, a sensitive and robust LC-MS/MS assay was developed for the first in-human multiple ascending dose study. MATERIALS & METHODS: The procedure consists of a protein precipitation with acidified acetonitrile, followed by trypsin digestion of the supernatant. A surrogate peptide from the complementarity determining region was quantified with an LC-MS/MS assay using a stable isotope-labeled internal standard with flanking amino acids. An acid dissociation step was found to be essential to achieve full analyte recovery in the presence of antidrug antibodies and soluble target CD28. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: The fully validated LC-MS/MS assay demonstrates good accuracy (% deviation ≤6.3) and precision (%CV ≤5.2) with an lower limit of quantitation of 10 ng/ml.

Fully validated LC-MS/MS assay for the simultaneous quantitation of coadministered therapeutic antibodies in cynomolgus monkey serum.

An LC-MS/MS assay was developed and fully validated for the simultaneous quantitation of two coadministered human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), mAb-A and mAb-B of IgG4 subclass, in monkey serum. The total serum proteins were digested with trypsin at 50 °C for 30 min after methanol denaturation and precipitation, dithiothreitol reduction, and iodoacetamide alkylation. The tryptic peptides were chromatographically separated with a C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm) with mobile phases of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile. Four peptides, a unique peptide for each mAb and two confirmatory peptides from different antibody domains, were simultaneously quantified by LC-MS/MS in the multiple reaction-monitoring mode. Stable isotopically labeled peptides with flanking amino acids on C- and N-terminals were used as internal standards to minimize the variability during sample processing and detection. The LC-MS/MS assay showed lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) at 5 µg/mL for mAb-A and 25 µg/mL for mAb-B. The intra- and interassay precision (%CV) was within 10.0% and 8.1%, respectively, and the accuracy (%Dev) was within ±5.4% for all the peptides. Other validation parameters, including sensitivity, selectivity, dilution linearity, processing recovery and matrix effect, autosampler carryover, run size, stability, and data reproducibility, were all evaluated. The confirmatory peptides played a critical role in confirming quantitation accuracy and the integrity of the drugs in the study samples. The robustness of the LC-MS/MS assay and the data agreement with the ligand binding data demonstrated that LC-MS/MS is a reliable and complementary approach for the quantitation of coadministered antibody drugs.

A rapid, accurate and robust UHPLC-MS/MS method for quantitative determination of BMS-927711, a CGRP receptor antagonist, in plasma in support of non-clinical toxicokinetic studies.

BMS-927711 is a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist that is being developed for the treatment of migraine. A rapid, accurate and robust assay was developed and validated for the quantitation of BMS-927711 in rat, monkey, rabbit and mouse plasma using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). A simplified method screening strategy was utilized that included a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) methodology and eleven LC columns (ten sub-2 µm UHPLC columns and one 2.6 µm HPLC column) for screening with emphasis on the removal of phospholipids, avoidance of metabolite interference and ruggedness of LC conditions. A stable isotope labeled [(13)C2, D4]-BMS-927711 was used as the internal standard, and 50 µL of plasma samples were used for extraction by automated LLE with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in 96-well format. Chromatographic separation was achieved with an isocratic elution and a gradient column wash on a Waters Acuity UPLC(®) BEH C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 µm) with run time of 3.7 min. Positive electrospray ionization was performed using selected reaction monitoring (SRM) with transitions of m/z 535>256 for BMS-927711 and m/z 541>256 for [(13)C2, D4]-BMS-927711. The standard curve, which ranged from 3.00 to 3000 ng/mL for BMS-927711, was fitted to a 1/x(2) weighted linear regression model. The intra-assay precision was within 5.2% CV, inter-assay precision was within 5.9% CV, and the assay accuracy was within ±5.2% deviation (%Dev) of the nominal values in all the species. The stability of an N-carbamoyl glucuronide metabolite was carefully investigated, and the conversion of this metabolite to BMS-927711 was minimal and manageable without a stabilization procedure. The method was successfully applied to multiple non-clinical toxicokinetic studies in different species in support of the investigative new drug (IND) filing.

Automated on-line SPE LC-MS/MS method to quantitate 6beta-hydroxycortisol and cortisol in human urine: use of the 6beta-hydroxycortisol to cortisol ratio as an indicator of CYP3A4 activity.

A sensitive method for quantitation of urinary 6beta-hydroxycortisol (6beta-HC) and cortisol using on-line SPE and LC-MS/MS was developed and validated. Human urine samples were injected directly onto an on-line solid phase extraction apparatus, Prospekt-2, followed by HPLC separation and electrospray triple quadrupole LC-MS/MS detection. The inter-day precision for the 6beta-HC:cortisol ratio was 7-9%. The lower limit of quantitation was 1 and 0.2 ng/mL for 6beta-HC and cortisol, respectively. Using the method we observed a diurnal variation on the 6beta-HC:cortisol ratio in healthy volunteers with the maximal ratio observed in the 2-10 pm urine collection period.