Pharmacopeial compliance of fish oil-containing parenteral lipid emulsion mixtures: Globule size distribution (GSD) and fatty acid analyses

Recently, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has established Chapter 〈729〉 with GSD limits for all lipid emulsions where the mean droplet size (MDS) must be <500 nm and the percent of fat larger than 5 μm (PFAT5) must be <0.05%, irrespective of the final lipid concentration. As well, the European Pharmacopeia (EP) Monograph no. 1352 specifies n3-fatty acid (FA) limits (EPA + DHA ≥ 45%; total n3 or T-n3 ≥ 60%) for fish oil. We assessed compliance with USP physical and EP chemical limits of two fish oil-containing lipid emulsion mixtures. All lipid emulsions passed USP 〈729〉 limits. No samples tested had an MDS >302 nm or a PFAT5 value >0.011%. Only one product met EP limits while the other failed. All emulsions tested were extremely fine dispersions and easily met USP 〈729〉 GSD limits. The n3-FAs profiles were lower in one, despite being labeled to contain 50% more fish oil than the other product. This latter finding suggests the n3-FA content of the fish oil source and/or the applied manufacturing processes in these products is different.