A low-cost and portable near-infrared spectrometer using open-source multivariate data analysis software for rapid...

Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) injectable suspensions are used by millions of women for family planning and hormonal therapy. Falsified or substandard medications may result in a health risk for consumers. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has previously been applied as a means of non-destructive and rapid screening of product quality compliance. These methods offer advantages but can be logistically and cost prohibitive for field use in resource limited areas. Here, a handheld spectrometer (900-1700 nm) with open-sourced software is used to evaluate vials of MPA from three suppliers (N = 227 vials) and verified by a benchtop UV-VIS-NIR (350-2500 nm) with licensed software. Multivariate data analysis assesses the spectral signatures of samples and builds a discriminant classification method based on Mahalanobis distances calculated from a principal component analysis scores. The handheld device paired with open-source software resulted in a product discrimination accuracy of 100% (verified by benchtop UV-VIS-NIR and chemical testing data) as well indicating that the low-cost field portable device is suitable for rapidly assessing samples in resource limited areas for consistency of manufacturing and sourcing.