Chemical purity and mutagenicity: case study of a drug in development

During a routine Ames assay of a potential antipsychotic drug candidate, the compound appeared to be a frameshift mutagen in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA1538. Additional testing indicated the mutagenic activity was due to one or more contaminants incurred during synthesis. While the compound was initially shown to be greater than 98% pure by high-performance liquid chromatography, the presence of small amounts (0.01-0.1%) of a highly mutagenic impurity produced positive mutagenicity results. The need to assess for chemical purity before discontinuing development of drug candidates found positive in the Ames assay is discussed.