Application of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Screening of Chlorothiazide Sodium Vials

Chlorothiazide sodium for injection, USP, is a diuretic and antihypertensive medication in the form of a white or practically white, sterile, lyophilized powder. Each vial contains 500 mg of chlorothiazide sodium, equivalent to 500 mg of chlorothiazide, and 250 mg of mannitol as an inactive ingredient. The pH is adjusted with sodium hydroxide. Chlorothiazide sodium has a molecular weight of 317.71 amu. Since 2020 there have been multiple national shortages of chlorothiazide. Recent studies target chlorothiazide's low bioavailability, aiming to enhance it through nanoparticle production via a supercritical method. The drug's solubility in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) is vital, with measurements ranging from 0.417×10^-5 to 1.012×10^-5 mole fraction under specific conditions. Adding co-solvents, like ethanol, DMSO, and acetone, to scCO₂ boosts solubility, with ethanol proving most effective, enhancing solubility by 2.02-11.75 times. Intra-lot variability was discovered in a sample of a lot of chlorothiazide sodium by the University of Kentucky Drug Quality Task Force. Two vials of six screened in one lot were displaced from the center of the lot by 4.0 and 4.2 SDs, respectively. Inter-lot variability was confirmed in the near-IR spectra of 204 vials obtained from 28 different lots of chlorothiazide sodium. Using full spectrum BEST analysis 13 vials (6.4%) were outliers.