A micellar liquid chromatography method for the quantification of abacavir, lamivudine and raltegravir in plasma

An analytical methodology based on micellar liquid chromatography has been developed to quantify abacavir, lamivudine and raltegravir in plasma. These three antiretroviral drugs are prescribed as a set in highly active antiretroviral therapy to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients. The experimental procedure consists in the dilution of the sample in micellar media, followed by filtration and, without cleanup step. The analytes were resolved in less than 30min using a mobile phase of 0.05M sodium dodecyl sulphate at pH 7, running at 1mLmin(-1) under isocratic mode at room temperature through a C18 column (125×4.6mm, 5μm particle size). The UV detection wavelength was set at 260nm. The method was successfully validated following the requirements of ICH guidelines in terms of: linear range (0.25-2.5μgmL(-1)), linearity (r(2)>0.990), intra- and interday precision (<6.8%) and accuracy (92.3-104.2%) and robustness (<7.1%). To the extent of our knowledge, this is the first published method to quantify these three drugs in plasma. Several blood samples from AIDS patients taking this HAART set provided by a local hospital were analyzed with satisfactory results.