High throughput assay for the determination of lumefantrine in plasma.

A high throughput bioanalytical assay for the determination of lumefantrine in plasma has been developed and validated extensively. The within-day precisions for lumefantrine were 5.2, 3.5 and 2.5% at 200, 2000 and 15000 ng/mL, respectively. The between-day precisions were 4.0, 2.8 and 3.1% at 200, 2000 and 15000 ng/mL, respectively. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) and the limits of detection (LOD) were 25 and 10 ng/mL, respectively using 0.250 mL plasma. The average recovery of lumefantrine was 85% and independent upon concentration. The use of 96-well plate format and short chromatographic run has increased the daily sample throughput four times. The assay is particularly suitable for large therapeutic drug monitoring studies using day 7 sampling.