Determination of apatinib and its three active metabolites by UPLC–MS/MS in a Phase IV clinical trial in NSCLC patients

In this Methodology article, published by Bioanalysis, investigators from Sun Yat-sen University and Qingxi Hospital (both Guangdong, China) describe and validate a simple method using UPLC–MS/MS for determination of apatinib and its three active metabolites in a Phase IV clinical trial. Keywords: active metabolites, apatinib, therapeutic drug monitoring, UPLC–MS/MS Aim: To develop and validate a simple method using UPLC–MS/MS for determination of apatinib and its three active metabolites in a Phase IV clinical trial. Materials & methods: All compounds were separated on a Hypersil GOLD™ aQ C18 Polar Endcapped LC column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm, Thermo) using 5 mmol/l ammonium acetate with 0.1% formic acid:acetonitrile (20:80, v/v) as the mobile phase after a rapid...