Field assessment of active ingredient quantity in pharmaceutical tablets with limited calibration of near infrared spectra: An application to ciprofloxacin tablets.

Portable near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometers have emerged as valuable tools for identifying substandard and falsified pharmaceuticals (SFPs). Integration of these devices with chemometric and machine learning models enhances their ability to provide quantitative chemical insights. However, different NIR spectrophotometer models vary in resolution, sensitivity, and responses to environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, necessitating instrument-specific libraries that hinder the wider adoption of NIR technology. This study addresses these challenges and seeks to establish a robust approach to promote the use of NIR technology in post-market pharmaceutical analysis. We developed support vector machine and partial least squares regression models based on binary mixtures of lab-made ciprofloxacin and microcrystalline cellulose, then applied the models to ciprofloxacin dosage forms that were assayed with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to set spectrophotometer independent NIR metrics to evaluate ciprofloxacin dosage forms as "meets standard," "needs HPLC assay," or "fails standard." Over 200 ciprofloxacin tablets representing 50 different brands were evaluated using spectra acquired from three types of NIR spectrophotometer with 85% of the prediction agreeing with HPLC testing. This study shows that non-brand-specific predictive models can be applied across multiple spectrophotometers for rapid screening of the conformity of pharmaceutical active ingredients to regulatory standard.

Application of design space optimization strategy to the development of LC methods for simultaneous analysis of 18 antiretroviral medicines and 4 major excipients used in various pharmaceutical formulations.

As one of the world's most significant public health challenges in low- and middle-income countries, HIV/AIDS deserves to be treated with appropriate medicines, however which are not spared from counterfeiting. For that, we developed screening and specific HPLC methods that can analyze 18 antiretroviral medicines (ARV) and 4 major excipients. Design of experiments and design space methodology were initially applied for 15 ARV and the 4 excipients with prediction thanks to Monte Carlo simulations and focusing on rapidity and affordability thus using short column and low cost organic solvent (methanol) in gradient mode with 10mM buffer solutions of ammonium hydrogen carbonate. Two other specific methods dedicated to ARV in liquid and in solid dosage formulations were also predicted and optimized. We checked the ability of one method for the analysis of a fixed-dose combination composed by emtricitabine/tenofovir/efavirenz in tablet formulations. Satisfying validation results were obtained by applying the total error approach taking into account the accuracy profile as decision tool. Then, the validated method was applied to test two samples coded A and B, and claimed to contain the tested ARV. Assay results were satisfying only for sample B.