A micromethod for the determination of the new antiepileptic drug levetiracetam (ucb LO59) in serum or plasma by high performance liquid chromatography.

An isocratic high performance liquid chromatographic micromethod is described for the quantitation of levetiracetam (ucb L059) in plasma or serum of patients. The chromatography is performed on a 250 x 4 mm I.D. LiChrospher 60 RP-select B, 5-micron column, eluted with an acetonitrile/50 mM phosphate buffer (15:85 vol/vol, pH 5.6) mobile phase, and levetiracetam detected using ultraviolet absorbance at 220 nm. The limit of quantitation was 5 mumol/L and the within-batch and between-batch coefficients of variation were < 7%. No interference from commonly prescribed antiepileptic drugs (carbamazepine and its metabolite carbamazepine epoxide, ethosuximide, gabapentin, lamotrigine, phenobarbitone, phenytoin, primidone, valproic acid, and vigabatrin) was observed, and thus the method can be used to monitor levetiracetam in patients on polytherapy antiepileptic drug regimens.