Lamivudine is a drug used in the treatment of types 1 and 2 HIV infections. It has been widely used in Brazil, in public programs of the Health Ministry. This work reports lamivudine assay methodologies, which have been developed and validated. Pharmaceutical equivalency studies were also performed for lamivudine tablets. Physical and physicochemical parameters of immediate release reference and test tablets of four different laboratories (G, A, B and C) were evaluated. The proposed analytical method, high performance liquid chromatography, presented satisfactory precision, accuracy, linearity and specificity. Batches from laboratories G, A and B showed appropriate results in all tests to which they were submitted. Tablet batches from laboratory G (reference) showed similar dissolution profile and fast dissolution rate. The products A and B showed differences between their batches, in regards to the dissolution rates at the initial profile. However at the end of the profile they reached similar release to the reference, product G. Therefore they can be considered pharmaceutical equivalents to the reference product. Batches of product from laboratory C showed much more differences with reduced dissolution presenting no appropriate quality for human consumption.
Lamivudine; Pharmaceutical equivalency; Validation
