Development of a dissolution method for lumefantrine and artemether in immediate release fixed dose artemether/lumefantrine tablets

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Sileshi Belew, Sultan Suleman, Markos Duguma, Henok Teshome, Evelien Wynendaele, Luc Duchateau, Bart De Spiegeleer
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2020
• Subjects: Artemether; Dissolution; In-vitro; Lumefantrine; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-020-03209-5; https://doaj.org/article/5796e11c3b51494c84b1ed1384828c96

Abstract Background Dissolution of artemether (ART) and lumefantrine (LUM) active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in fixed dose combination (FDC) ART/LUM tablets is one of the critical quality attributes. Thus, the verification of the release profile of ART and LUM from FDC ART/LUM tablets using a robust and discriminatory dissolution method is crucial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate an appropriate dissolution method for quality control of FDC ART/LUM tablets. Methods The dissolution medium was selected based on saturation solubility data and sink conditions. The effect of agitation speed, pH and surfactant concentration on the release of ART and LUM was evaluated by employing a two-level factorial experiment. The resulting final method was validated for linearity, precision, robustness and API stability. In addition, the discriminatory power of the method was evaluated using expired and unexpired FDC ART/LUM products. Results A suitable dissolution profile of FDC ART/LUM tablets was obtained in 900 ml HCl (0.025 N, pH 1.6) with 1%Myrj 52 using paddle method at 100 rpm and 37 °C. ART and LUM were analysed using a HPLC method with UV detection at wavelengths of 210 and 335 nm, respectively. The results from the stability study showed that ART and LUM were sufficiently stable in HCl (0.025 N, pH 1.6) with 1%Myrj 52 at 37 °C. The method was linear (r2 = 0.999) over the concentration range of 6.25–100 μg/ml. The results for precision were within the acceptance limit (%RSD < 2). The percent relative standard deviation (< 2%) and statistically non-significant (p > 0.05) difference in release of ART and LUM observed between deliberately changed dissolution method settings (pH = 1.6 ± 0.2 or agitation speed = 100 ± 2) and optimized dissolution conditions revealed the robustness of the dissolution method. The method was capable to discriminate among different FDC ART/LUM products with different quality. Conclusions The developed dissolution method is robust and discriminatory. It ...