Determination of stress-induced degradation products of cetirizine dihydrochloride by a stability-indicating RP-HPLC method

BACKGROUND: A new, simple and accurate stability-indicating reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated during the early stage of drug development of an oral lyophilizate dosage form of cetirizine dihydrochloride. METHODS: For RP-HPLC analysis it was used an Eclipse XDB C8 column 150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm (Agilent columns, Barcelona, Spain) as the stationary phase with a mobile phase consisted of a mixture of 0.2 M K(2)HPO4 pH 7.00 and acetonitrile (65:35, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL min (−1). Detection was performed at 230 nm using diode array detector. The method was validated in accordance with ICH guidelines with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision, specificity, limit of detection and quantification. RESULTS: The method results in excellent separation between the drug substance and its stress-induced degradation products. The peak purity factor is >950 for the drug substance after all types of stress, which confirms the complete separation of the drug substance peak from its stress induced degradation products. Regression analysis showed r(2) > 0.999 for cetirizine dihydrochloride in the concentration range of 650 μg mL (−1) to 350 μg mL(−1) for drug substance assay and a r(2) > 0.999 in the concentration range of 0.25 μg mL(−1) to 5 μg mL(−1) for degradation products. The method presents a limit of detection of 0.056 μg mL (−1) and a limit of quantification of 0.25 μg mL(−1). The obtained results for precision and accuracy for drug substance and degradation products are within the specifications established for the validation of the method. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed stability-indicating method developed in the early phase of drug development proved to be a simple, sensitive, accurate, precise, reproducible and therefore useful for the following stages of the cetirizine dihydrochloride oral lyophilizate dosage form development.