A Reliable HPLC-UV Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Three Antiretroviral Drugs in Human Blood Plasma Applied to Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is an infectious disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Pharmacological antiretroviral therapy, along with therapeutic monitoring of drug plasma concentrations, facilitates adequate and effective follow-up in each patient. Our main objective was to develop and validate a high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) bioanalytical method for the simultaneous quantification of plasma concentrations of three commonly used antiretrovirals in Colombia: efavirenz, lopinavir, and ritonavir. This method is intended for therapeutic drug monitoring in persons living with HIV locally or in developing countries. The method is selective, specific, accurate, precise, and stable over the concentration range of 250 and 20,000 ng mL ^-1 for the drugs. It was successfully applied to measure the plasma levels of efavirenz, lopinavir, and ritonavir in HIV patients, which ranged from 251.0 ± 10.4 to 7186.2 ± 10.2, 8188.2 ± 5.9 to 15,312.5 ± 6.6, and 246.1 ± 6.5 to 1189.0 ± 6.4 ng mL^-1, respectively.

Keywords:
efavirenz; lopinavir; ritonavir; plasma concentration; bioanalytical method; HPLC-UV