The quality of some earlier developed antibiotics is usually ensured by the combination of HPLC purity and microbiological potency measurement in the pharmacopoeias of various countries because the relationship between their purity and potency is not clearly quantified. Due to potency is assessed using certain units of measurement, it can not be directly traced to the international system of units (SI unit). This has become a hotspot in the study of the quantitative relationship between purity and potency of antibiotics. It would be quite an achievement to simultaneously determine both purity and potency using HPLC methods during quality control. This study evaluated a multicomponent antibiotic product, gentamycin, as a test sample. First, pure samples of the C components of gentamycin: C1a, C2, C2a and C1 were prepared, separately. Second, quantitative relationship (theoretical potency) between the purity and potency of each C component of gentamycin were determined using 1H NMR, HPLC-ELSD and microbiological assay method. One milligram of gentamycin C1a, C2, C2a and C1 was equal to 1 286.98, 1 095.74, 1 079.52 and 739.61 gentamycin units, respectively. Finally, a method for the determination of gentamycin potency was established based on the proportion and content of C components of gentamycin. The unification of purity and potency for gentamycin was achieved using only HPLC-ELSD. It is also demonstrated that C components of gentamycin and micronomicin produce the same responses under ELSD, which means that it is not necessary to prepare separate reference standards for each C component of gentamycin and that quantitative testing can be performed accurately using only one micronomicin reference standard. This study simplified the previous method for the determination of the content of C components of gentamycin using HPLC-ELSD. The developed method is suitable for regular use as a part of quality control and can simplify the rigmarole quality control procedures provided in current pharmacopeias.

In this paper, the uncertainties of correction factors of fluconazole impurities determined by HPLC standard curve method were evaluated, and the main common factors affecting the accuracy of standard curve method were found, so as to improve the accuracy of the method.In this study, the corresponding fitting lines of fluconazole and its impurities A, B, C, D, F and I were established respectively, and the ratio of the slope of fitting lines of each impurity and its corresponding principal component was calculated as the correction factor of the impurity.Then on the basis of GUM method, the uncertainty of each impurity correction factor determined by standard curve method was evaluated according to the established uncertainty evaluation scheme of correction factor determination process.The correction factor and uncertainty of fluconazole impurities A, B, C, D, F and I were 1.068 ± 0.046, 0.102 ± 0.005, 0.0582 ± 0.0031, 1.382 ± 0.121, 0.802 ± 0.067 and 1.383 ± 0.119, respectively, and the coverage factor k was 2.Finally, the contribution rate of each uncertainty component was calculated.In the relative combined standard uncertainties urel(f) of fluconazole impurities A, B, C, D, F and I correction factors, the sum of contribution rate of slope uncertainty urel(K) of the linear equation of principal component and its impurity is more than 85%; in the slope uncertainties urel(K) of linear equation, the contribution rates of uncertainties of solution concentration in 8 of 12 data groups are more than 80%, and the contribution rates of uncertainties introduced by reference substance content in solution concentration are about 80%.It can be seen that the preparation of linear solution concentration is the most influential factor in the determination of impurity correction factor by standard curve method, followed by the linear fitting process.In the preparation process of linear solution concentration, the purity of reference substance is the most influential factor, followed by weighing and pipetting times.The conclusion can help the experimenters to better formulate experimental plans and ensure the accuracy of the results when doing similar work.

To improve the standard of quality control of tazobactam and its preparations in China, national reference standard of tazobactam impurity A was developed. After tazobactam impurity A was synthesized, its structure was validated by infrared (IR), mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and its content uniformity and short-term stability were measured and investigated. Then, water content and residue on ignition of impurity A were determined, and its purity was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution-acetonitrile (98∶2) as the mobile phase. Mass balance method was used to determine the content of the first batch of tazobactam impurity A national standard substance. Meanwhile, nuclear magnetic quantitative method was used to calculate the content, which was mutually verified with the mass balance method. The developed reference material of tazobactam impurity A is consistent with the maximum degradation impurity in tazobactam system applicability solution and the reference material of tazobactam related substance A contained in USP41. Within the 95% confidence range, the ratio of inter- and intra-bottle variance of impurity A after separation was 0.61 (< F0.05(11,12)), proving that the uniformity was satisfying. The contents of organic impurity, water content and inorganic impurity in impurity A were 0.90%, 1.24% and 0.25%, respectively. The content of impurity A was determined to be 97.6% by mass balance method, which was basically consistent with the result of nuclear magnetic quantitative method (97.1%). Under the condition of 25 °C, the area normalized purity of impurity A was 99.1% at 0, 3, 5 and 10 days, proving that the sample was stable at room temperature for 10 days. Finally the first batch of national standard substance of tazobactam impurity A was established successfully.

From a regulatory perspective,drug quality consistency evaluation must concern different processes used for the same drug.In this study,an assessment strategy based on quality by design(QbD)was developed for population pharmaceutical quality evaluation.A descriptive analysis method based on QbD concept was first established to characterize the process by critical evaluation attributes(CEAs).Then quantitative analysis method based on an improved statistical process control(SPC)method was established to investigate the process indicators(PIs)in the process population,such as mean distri-bution,batch-to-batch difference and abnormal quality probability.After that rules for risk assessment were established based on the SPC limitations and parameters.Both the SPC parameters of the CEAs and the risk of PIs were visualized according to the interaction test results to obtain a better understanding of the population pharmaceutical quality.Finally,an assessment strategy was built and applied to generic drug consistency assessment,process risk assessment and quality trend tracking.The strategy demon-strated in this study could help reveal quality consistency from the perspective of process control and process risk,and further show the recent development status of domestic pharmaceutical production processes.In addition,a process risk assessment and population quality trend tracking provide data-based information for approval.Not only can this information serve as a further basis for decision-making by the regulatory authority regarding early warnings,but it can also reduce some avoidable adverse reactions.With continuous addition of data,dynamic population pharmaceutical quality is meaningful for emergencies and decision-making regarding drug regulation.