Malallah, OS;
Hammond, B;
Al-Adhami, T;
Buanz, A;
Alqurshi, A;
Carswell, WD;
Miraz Rahman, K;
... Royall, PG; + view all
(2019)
Solid-state epimerisation and disproportionation of pilocarpine HCl: Why we need a 5-stage approach to validate melting point measurements for heat-sensitive drugs.
International Journal of Pharmaceutics
, 574
, Article 118869. 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118869.
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Abstract
Melting points for new drugs are reported in regulatory documents, e.g. investigational brochures, and frequently in published research; however, the authors do not typically consider that heat-induced degradation can affect the melting point measurement. Applying a single heating rate is not adequate, and thus many melting points in the literature and regulatory documentation are not valid. Our aim was to validate a five-stage approach for the melting point measurement of heat-sensitive drugs. These stages are; 1) observe melting; 2) record mass loss; 3) measure melting points at different heating rates; 4) characterise degradation and 5) test for potential isomerisation. Applying this approach to pilocarpine HCl illustrated the sensitivity of a melting point to thermal degradation. Due to salt disproportionation & loss of HCl gas, pilocarpine's melting point decreased by 14 °C when the heating rate was lowered from 20 to 1 °C/min. Epimerization occurred before melting was reached. Increasing the heating rate diminished disproportionation; however, this did not remove epimerization. Thus, the melting point of pilocarpine HCl of 205.5 ± 0.4 °C measured at 20 °C/min represents the melt of a racemic mixture containing inactive isopilocarpine. Heating above the melting point accelerated degradation, a rate of 5°C/min recovered just 38 ± 1% of pilocarpine. Such data predicted a shelf-life of 6.6years. Pilocarpine successfully validated the multistage approach by providing new knowledge concerning its thermal stability. Our 5-stage approach must be applied to all new drugs especially if their formulation requires heat. For example, thermal stability is an infrequently considered pre-requisite in the emerging field of 3D printing.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Solid-state epimerisation and disproportionation of pilocarpine HCl: Why we need a 5-stage approach to validate melting point measurements for heat-sensitive drugs |
| Location: | Netherlands |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118869 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118869 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Differential scanning calorimetry, disproportionation, epimerization, heat-sensitive drugs, melting point, pilocarpine HCl, thermal degradation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > UCL School of Pharmacy > Pharmaceutics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088136 |
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