Abstract
Method using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of pregabalin in plasma samples. Acquisition was performed by monitoring the transitions: m/z 160.1${\rightarrow}$142.2 for pregabalin and m/z 423.2${\rightarrow}$207.1 for losartan (as an internal standard). After cold acetonitrileinduced protein precipitation of the plasma samples, separation was performed with C18 column by isocratic mobile phase consisted of 10 mM ammonium acetate and acetonitrile (15:85, v/v). Results were linear over the concentration ranged from 0.1 to $10{\mu}g$/mL and the correlation coefficients (r) were $\geq0.99$. Intra- and inter-day precisions were $\leq6.02$ and $\leq11.04%$, respectively, and intra- and inter-day accuracies were 96.60-101.09 and 98.10-102.60%, respectively. This validated method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of two formulations of pregabalin, Daewoong pregabalin capsule (Daewoong Pharm. Co., Ltd.) and Lyrica$^{(R)}$ capsule (Pfizer Korea Ltd.) in twenty eight healthy Korean volunteers. The subjects received a single oral dose of each formulation (150 mg as pregabalin) in a randomized $2{\times}2$ crossover study and plasma samples were obtained from each subject at predetermined time intervals. Then, the pharmacokinetic parameters ($AUC_{0-t}$, $C_{max}$ and $T_{max}$) were calculated and statistically analyzed to assess the differences between two formulations. The 90% confidence intervals for the log-transformed data were acceptable range of log 0.8-log 1.25 (e.g., log 1.0048-log 1.0692 for AUC0-t, log 0.9142-log 1.0421 for $C_{max}$). Thus, $AUC_{0-t}$ and $C_{max}$ met the criteria of the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for bioequivalence test indicating that Daewoong pregabalin capsule was bioequivalent to Lyrica$^{(R)}$ capsule.
