Improved Achiral and Chiral HPLC-UV Analysis of Ruxolitinib in Two Different Drug Formulations

Abstract

In this paper, two new reversed-phase (RP) HPLC-UV methods enabling the quantitative achiral and chiral analysis of ruxolitinib in commercial tablets (containing 20 mg of active pharmaceutical ingredient, API) and not commercially available galenic capsules (with 5 mg of API) are described. For the achiral method based on the use of a water/acetonitrile [70:30, v/v; with 0.1% (v) formic acid] eluent, a “research validation” study was performed mostly following the “International Council for Harmonization” guidelines. All the system suitability parameters were within the acceptance criteria: tailing factor, between 1.7 and 2.0; retention factor, 2.2; number of theoretical plates, >9000. The linearity curve showed R2 = 0.99 (Rxv2 = 0.99), while trueness (expressed as recovery) was between 96.3 and 106.3%. Coefficient of variations (CVs) (repeatability: CVw and intermediate precision: CVIP) did not exceed 1.3% and 2.9%, respectively. Moreover, the use of the enantiomeric Whelk-O1 chiral stationary phases operated under similar RP eluent conditions as for the achiral analyses, and the “inverted chirality columns approach (ICCA)” allowed us to establish that the enantiomeric purity of ruxolitinib is retained upon reformulation from tablets to capsules. The two developed methods can allow accurate determinations of ruxolitinib in drug formulations for medical use.