Development of a novel method for determination of 11 antiretroviral drugs concentrations in human plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection method

Objective: To develop ultra-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detection (UPLC-PDA) method that is fully validated for measuring 11 antiretroviral drugs concentrations in human plasma. Methods: Chromatographic separation was performed on an ACQUITY UPLC™ BEH Shield RP, 1.7 μm (100 mm x 2.1 mm I.D.) and used acetronitrile with 0.1% formic acid in Milli-Q water as a mobile phase. ACQUITY UPLC® Photodiode Array (PDA) Detector was performed at 210, 240, and 260 nm. Results: This method demonstrated a good separation result for plasma levels of 11 antiretroviral drugs within 16 minutes. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.25 μg/mL for maraviroc, 0.5 μg/mL for lopinavir, and 20 ng/mL for the remaining 9 antiretroviral drugs. This method was fully validated in terms of selectivity, accuracy, precision, and stability. The standard curves are in the expected ranges of drug concentration in the patients' plasma with good linearity (r2>0.995). Recoveries of extraction ranged from 72.27-110.80% with repeatability. Conclusion: A novel, sensitive, accurate, and reproducible UPLC/PDA method for quantification of 11 currentlyprescribed antiretroviral drugs concentrations in human plasma was successfully developed and fully validated according to USFDA guidelines.