Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography helps make drugs safer

Research into the application of ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography has determined a potential means of making drugs safer.

The study looked at the issues that arise when drugs are converted into toxic substances within the body, with serious consequences for the patient.

Usually, the remaining parts of the drug after treatment are metabolised and excreted safely.

Tove Johansson Mali'n of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has now devised a way of applying ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography to the issue.

She says: "We hope that the method can simplify the work of identifying potentially toxic metabolites at an early stage and thus facilitate the development of safe drugs."

Her paper is one of a number accepted for publication in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

They include an analysis of the antipsychotic Haloperidol conducted using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry.

This found that, when catalysed by the cytochrome P450 family, the process of breaking down the drug does not create an exocyclic cyano adduct that is present when the process is mediated electrochemically.