Page 26 - Shimadzu Journal vol.9 Issue1

Clinical Research

Introduction of HPLC and LC-MS/MS

methods for the quantitative analysis

of therapeutic drugs for COVID-19

Daisuke Kawakami, Clinical & Biotechnology Business Unit, Life Science Business Department, Analytical & Measuring Instruments Division, Shimadzu Corporation
Eishi Imoto, Global Application Development Center, Analytical & Measuring Instruments Division, Shimadzu Corporation
Risa Suzuki PhD, Global Application Development Center, Analytical & Measuring Instruments Division, Shimadzu Corporation

The number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 continues to This article introduces applications for two therapeutic drugs re-
rise rapidly throughout the world. The SARS-CoV-2 virus infects quested from customer in clinical. The first application relates to
everybody regardless of age and sex, and causes COVID-19, a remdesivir. This drug developed by Gilead Sciences, Inc. treats to
disease that affects many organs of the body. Unfortunately, new Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Remdesivir was the first drug approved
medications that treat COVID-19 have yet to emerge. for treatment of COVID-19 in Japan and is now used clinically for
At the same time, existing drugs are being tested for their ef- this purpose. Remdesivir is a prodrug with antiviral activity against
ficacy to treat COVID-19, and Ministry of Health, Labour and single-stranded RNA viruses. Since remdesivir is partially metab-
Welfare ( Japan) has already approved several drugs now relied on olized in the body into its active form GS-441524, the analytical
doctors in clinical settings. The relationships between monitoring method was developed for measurement both remdesivir and GS-
blood concentration levels of these drugs and progress of treatment, 441524 simultaneously.
or interactions between drugs taken for underlying conditions and
drugs intended to treat COVID-19, have yet to be elucidated.
Simultaneous Analysis of Remdesivir
For antibiotics and other drugs, immunological methods of
and Metabolites in Human Plasma
analysis are normally used to measure blood concentration levels.
However, given the rapidly rising numbers of people infected with Simultaneous Analysis of Remdesivir
SARS-CoV-2 and that many patients are administered multiple and Metabolites in Human Plasma
Using Fully Automated Sample
drugs, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or triple
Preparation LC/MS/MS System
quadrupole liquid chromatography / mass spectrometry (LC/MS/
MS) would appear superior to immunological methods of analysis ,
because these techniques can measure blood concentration levels The second application highlights favipiravir, an anti-influenza
of multiple drugs simultaneously. For this reason, expectations and drug developed by FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd..
demand for HPLC and LC-MS/MS are on the rise. Favipiravir is sometimes administered in combination with other

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