Validated High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Stability Study of Eptifibatide

Eptifibatide (EPT) is a cyclic heptapeptide derived from a protein found in the venom of the south-eastern pygmy rattle snake used as an antiplatelet drug. In this study, a newly developed HPLC method demonstrating no interference from the different degradation products of EPT has been optimized and validated. The method was based on HPLC separation of eptifibatide from its degradation products using reversed phase C18 column at ambient temperature with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: 50 mM sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate dihydrate, pH was adjusted to 2.2 with orthophosphoric acid (25:75 v/v). Quantitation was achieved with UV detection at 220 nm based on peak area. The proposed method was validated according to the ICH guidelines and applied to evaluate the stability of EPT under different stress conditions including temperature, oxidation and hydrolysis over wide pH range (2-10). Moreover, kinetic study of EPT oxidation and its hydrolysis at pH 10 was demonstrated. The proposed method was successfully applied to quantify EPT in bulk powder and in pharmaceutical formulation with a runtime shorter than all the reported methods.