| Abstract
A simple and sensitive stability-indicating size exclusion chromatography method was developed and validated for the
quantitative analysis of cetuximab. The effect of variety of parameters including mobile phase composition, pH, flow rate
and injection volume was investigated to achieve acceptable peak resolution and the optimum condition was selected. The
proposed method was validated in accordance with the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Method validation
showed good linearity over the concentration range of 1.56–250 μg mL−
1 (r2 = 0.9997), acceptable precision (relative
standard deviations < 2.8%) and accuracy (recovery of 97.6–99.5%). The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.34 μg
mL−
1 and 1.03 μg mL−
1, respectively. The robustness of the method was evaluated by small variation in buffer composition,
buffer pH and flow rate and was determined to be acceptable. Assessment of the specificity and stability-indicating capability
of the method using thermally stressed, photo degraded, acidic and oxidative stressed samples revealed no interference
between cetuximab and excipients or force degradation products. Furthermore, evaluation of bioactivity of stressed samples
showed significant differences (p < 0.05). The proposed method could be utilized as a precise and robust stability-indicating
method which can be reproduced in any labs for high-throughput quantitative analysis, stability monitoring and quality
control of cetuximab in pharmaceutical formulation. |