Quantitative determination of thallium binding to ferric hexacyanoferrate: Prussian blue

Ferric hexacyanoferrate, (Fe(4)(III)[Fe(II)(CN)(6)](3)), also known as insoluble Prussian blue (PB), is the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of Radiogardase which is the first approved drug product (DP) for treatment of thallium and radiocesium poisoning. The aim of this study is (1) to determine the in vitro thallium binding capacity and binding rates of insoluble PB; and (2) to evaluate the effect of physiological pH conditions, PB particle size and storage conditions on the binding to PB. Experimental pH levels from 1.0 to 7.5 were used to cover the range of pH levels that PB may encounter when traveling through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in humans. Measurements of thallium binding were made between 1 and 24h, to cover gastric and intestinal tract residence time. PB was found to have a binding capacity of approximately 1400 mg/g at pH 7.5. When the pH decreased, the binding decreased as well. The results indicated that the hydration state of PB influences the thallium binding process. It was also found that there exits a direct correlation between the moisture loss in PB and the thallium binding rate constant. The PB with 17 mol of water had a binding rate constant of 0.52, which was reduced to 0.32 when PB was dehydrated to 2.5 mol of water. Significant differences were observed in both binding capacity and binding rate constant among PB fractions with different particle size ranges. PB fraction with particle size of 220-1000 microm had a binding rate constant of 0.43, which increased to 0.64 when the particle size was reduced to 32-90 microm. Batch-to-batch variation in thallium binding was also observed among the APIs and the DPs and this was related to particle size and hydration state. These findings can be utilized to evaluate and predict drug product quality under certain manufacturing and dry storage conditions.