DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF ULTRA PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PULMONARY DRUG PRODUCT CONTAINING FORMOTEROL FUMARATE AND FLUTICASONE PROPIONATE

Abstract

An ultra-performance liquid chromatographic assay method was developed for the simultaneous determination of Formoterol fumarate and Fluticasone propionate in dry powder inhalation formulation. The separation was achieved on Acquity UPLC HSS C18 (50 mm x 4.6 mm x 1.8 $\mu$ m) column. The mobile phase consists of water (p^H adjusted to 2.5 with orthophosphoric acid): acetonitrile (40:60 v/v) pumped at a flow rate 0.4 ml/min. The column temperature was maintained at 35 °C and the detector was monitored at a wavelength of 223 nm. The injection volume was 10 $\mu$ l with a total run time of 3.5 min. The retention times of Formoterol fumarate and Fluticasone propionate was found to be 0.58±0.01 min and 1.84±0.01 min respectively. The calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 3-9 $\mu$ g/ml and 50-150 $\mu$ g/ml of Formoterol fumarate and Fluticasone propionate respectively (r² = 0.999). The percentage recoveries were found to be 99.43-99.84 % for Formoterol fumarate and 99.44-100.51 % for Fluticasone propionate. The limit of detection was found to be 0.028 $\mu$ g/ml & 0.15 $\mu$ g/ml and limit of quantitation was found to be 0.085 $\mu$ g/ml & 0.47 $\mu$ g/ml for Formoterol fumarate and Fluticasone propionate respectively. The most sensitive UPLC method was developed for the estimation of dry powder inhalation containing varied strengths of Formoterol fumarate and Fluticasone propionate. The developed method was validated for system suitability, specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation and robustness according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines.