Feasible TLC-Spectro-Densitometry Technique for Simultaneous Determination of Two Hepatitis C Antiviral Drugs, Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir: Application to Combined Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms and Human Plasma

An environmentally sustainable synchronous spectrofluorimetric method coupled with second derivative signal processing for simultaneous determination of velpatasvir and simeprevir in pharmaceutical and plasma samples

Velpatasvir and simeprevir are two direct acting antivirals that are often used in combination with sofosbuvir to treat HCV infections. Herein, an environmentally benign spectrofluorimetric method was developed for simultaneous quantification of velpatasvir and simeprevir in pharmaceutical and plasma samples. To address the issue of overlapping fluorescence spectra presented by these compounds, this method integrates synchronous fluorescence and second-derivative spectroscopy. By employing the second derivative of the synchronous fluorescence spectra measured at Δλ of 140 nm, the accurate determination of velpatasvir at 400 nm and simeprevir at 426 nm was achieved without any interference. Different experimental parameters affecting the synchronous fluorescence of the studied drugs were carefully optimized. The plots of second-derivative amplitudes against concentrations showed linearity in the range of 5-400 ng/mL for velpatasvir and 80-800 ng/mL for simeprevir. The method was very sensitive, with lower detection limits of 1.11 ng/mL and 25.40 ng/mL, and quantification limits of 3.36 ng/mL and 76.96 ng/mL for velpatasvir and simeprevir, respectively.The method was effectively used to determine velpatasvir and simeprevir simultaneously in their pure forms, pharmaceutical dosage forms, and human plasma with no interference. The suggested technique was additionally evaluated for its eco-friendliness through the utilization of the Analytical GREEnness (AGREE) and Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI) evaluation metrics, revealing that the method is indeed sustainable.

Mathematical processing of absorption as green smart spectrophotometric methods for concurrent assay of hepatitis C antiviral drugs, Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir: application to combined pharmaceutical dosage forms and evaluation of the method greenness

The present work was developed to create three rapid, simple, eco-friendly, cheap spectrophotometric methods for concurrent assay of Sofosbuvir (SOF) and Simeprevir (SMV) in their pure, laboratory prepared mixture and pharmaceutical dosage form with high degree of accuracy and precision. Three methods were developed including iso-absorptive point, ratio subtraction and dual wavelength. The linear range of the proposed methods was 3.0-50.0 and 2.0-50.0 µg mL^-1 for SMV and SOF, respectively. The proposed methods were validated according to ICH guidelines in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection and limit of quantitation. The proposed approach is highly simple and the procedure is environmentally green making it suitable for the drug analysis in routine works.

Application of different spectrophotometric methods for quantitative analysis of direct acting antiviral drugs simeprevir and sofosbuvir

Simeprevir and sofosbuvir are direct-acting antiviral drugs approved for the treatment of chronic HCV infection. Reports demonstrate the similarities between HCV and SARS-CoV-2 in terms of structure and replication mechanism. Therefore, it is suggested that a combination of simeprevir and sofosbuvir may be considered for COVID-19 patients. To date, no spectrophotometric methods have been published for quantitative analysis of simeprevir and sofosbuvir in combination. In this work, two simple spectrophotometric methods allowed quantitative analysis of the studied drugs in the mixed form. The zero-order direct method allowed quantitative analysis of simeprevir at 333 nm, with sofosbuvir showing zero absorbance values. The dual wavelength method allowed quantitative analysis of sofosbuvir by measuring the difference in absorbance values at 259.40 and 276 nm, where the difference in absorbance values of simeprevir was zero. With the applied methods, the investigated drugs in the mixtures and tablets prepared in the laboratory were successfully analyzed quantitatively with acceptable results.