Determination of firocoxib in equine plasma using high performance liquid chromatography

A new method of analysis has been developed and validated for the determination of firocoxib, a new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) approved for use in horses and dogs to control pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis. Following a liquid extraction using ethyl acetate:hexane (40:60), samples were separated by isocratic reversed-phase HPLC on a Sunfire C18 column and quantified using UV detection at 290 nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of water with 0.025% trifluoroacetic acid and acetonitrile, with a flow-rate of 1.1 ml/min. The procedure produced a linear curve over the concentration range 5-1500 ng/ml with a lower limit of quantification of 5 ng/ml. Intra- and inter-assay variability was less than 7%. The average recovery was 98%. The method is suitable for the analysis of clinical samples from pharmacokinetic studies and can also be used for small volume sample sizes.