A rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric methodology for the in vitro analysis of Pooled and Cocktail cytochrome P450 assays.

Drug-drug interaction evaluations of new pharmaceutical candidates are critical to preventing drug withdrawal and are routinely determined through the use of cytochrome P450 assays. The measurement of the effect of test compounds on the metabolism of known substrates allows for the determination of specific CYP450 isoenzyme inhibition and calculation of IC50 values. A sensitive, high-throughput ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC/MS/MS) method is presented for the evaluation of CYP450 inhibition. The assay was performed using a cocktail of probe substrates and the results were compared to those obtained with the more time-consuming methodology utilizing individual substrates. The use of a high-resolution, sub-2 microm particle, LC system allowed for a high-throughput assay of just 1 min. The extra resolution of the UPLC/MS/MS system allowed for the complete resolution of the analytes, with a fast switching MS for comprehensive data collection. The CYP450 inhibition results obtained using the substrate cocktail approach were found to be essentially identical to those obtained using individual substrates. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.