Abstract
An unknown impurity was detected in in-house prepared ephedrine hydrochloride (HCl) 5mg/mL prefilled sterilized syringes when applying a stability-indicating British Pharmacopoeia 2018 impurity method for ephedrine injection. Ultraviolet, chromatographic, mass spectral, and physicochemical methods were combined to identify the unknown impurity. The unknown impurity was identified as methcathinone, which is generated from ephedrine drug substance through an oxidation reaction. A formulation study, in which different process adjustments were tested, was carried out to reduce the amount of unknown impurity. Nitrogen gassing in combination with 0.05M citrate buffer addition proved to be the most potent process adjustment in reducing methcathinone formation in ephedrine HCl 5mg/mL prefilled sterilized syringes after 4months of storage in the dark at room temperature (20°C ± 5°C). More detailed research on the long-term stability of the reformulated ephedrine HCl drug product is currently underway, with promising results for up to 9months gathered already.
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