A new approach to accelerated drug-excipient compatibility testing.

The purpose of this study was to develop a method of qualitatively predicting the most likely degradants in a formulation or probing specific drug-excipient interactions in a significantly shorter time frame than the typical 1 month storage testing. In the example studied, accelerated storage testing of a solid dosage form at 50 degrees C, the drug substance SB-243213-A degraded via the formation of two oxidative impurities. These impurities reached a level of 1% PAR after 3 months. Various stressing methods were examined to try to recreate this degradation and in doing so provide a practical and reliable method capable of predicting drug-excipient interactions. The technique developed was able to mimic the 1-month's accelerated degradation in just 1 hr. The method was suitable for automated analysis, capable of multisample stressing, and ideal for use in drug-excipient compatibility screening.