Development of an SPE-LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantification of bosentan and its active metabolite hydroxybosentan in human plasma to support a bioequivalence study

A highly sensitive, selective and rapid bioanalytical method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of bosentan and hydroxybosentan in human plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The analytes and their deuterated analogs were quantitatively extracted from 100 μL human plasma by solid phase extraction. The chromatographic separation of analytes was achieved on a Thermo Hypurity C18 (100 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μ) analytical column with a resolution factor of 2.4 under isocratic conditions. The method was validated over a dynamic concentration range of 0.4-1600 ng/mL for bosentan and 0.2-250 ng/mL for hydroxybosentan. Ion-suppression effects were investigated by post-column infusion of analytes. The precision (%CV) values for the calculated slopes of calibration curves, which would reflect the relative matrix effect, were less than 1.2% for both the analytes. The intra-batch and inter-batch precision (%CV) across quality control levels was ≤4.0% and the mean relative recovery was >94% for both the analytes. The method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 125 mg tablet formulation (test and reference) in 12 healthy Indian male subjects under fasting condition. The ratios of mean log-transformed values of Cmax, AUC0−t and AUC0-inf and their 90% CIs varied from 91.3 to 104.7%. The percentage change for incurred sample reanalysis (ISR) was within ±13.0%.