Rapid high-performance liquid chromatography determination of lopinavir, anovel HIV-1 protease inhibitor, in human plasma

Lopinavir is a new specific and potent HIV-1 protease inhibitor. A rapid hi gh-performance liquid chromatographic method using UV detection, has been d eveloped and validated for the analysis of lopinavir in plasma. This involv ed a single liquid-solid extraction on an OASIS (R) HLB column in the prese nce of an internal standard. Separation was achieved on a Xterra (R), C-8 ( 150 x 3.9 mm I. D.) column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile a nd water (41:59, v/v). The detection wavelength was 210 nm. The assay was l inear from 0.187 to 10.0 mug.mL(-1) and the limit of quantification was 0.1 87 mug.mL(-1). Mean recovery was ranged from 90.7% to 97.8% for lopinavir a nd 97.1% for the internal standard. Day to day precision and accuracy were less than 9.6% and 7.3% respectively. This rapid and simple method can read ily be used for drug monitoring of lopinavir, in HIV-1 infected patients.