Diabetes is a major cause of chronic kidney disease, and oral antidiabetic drugs are the mainstay of therapy for most patients with Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is typically associated with insulin resistance and dysfunction of insulin-secreting pancreatic beta-cells.
Addressing these defects often requires therapy with a combination of differently acting antidiabetic agents.
There are various types of oral antidiabetic drugs. Among them, dipeptidyl peptidase 4(DPP-4) inhibitors are relatively new and have attracted attention in that they do not cause severe hypoglycemia especially in monotherapy.
A potential novel combination in development brings together DPP-4 inhibitor with the pioglitazone into a fixed dose single-tablet combination. The former component acts mainly to increase prandial insulin secretion; the latter improves insulin sensitivity. Ultra-high-speed HPLC has become increasingly popular in analytical research fields. This system provides fast and efficient chromatographic separation. In this study, we investigated analysis of active ingredients in combination drugs using an ultra-high-speed HPLC system equipped with a photo-diode array detector. HPLC system utilized in this study was a Lachrom Ultra system (Hitachi Tokyo Japan)equipped of L-2455 diode array detector. A LaChrom Ultra C18(particle size; 2μm) was used as the analytical column. Rapid and simultaneous analysis of active ingredients in combination drugs was achieved.
We have also developed an electrospray ionization (ESI) liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC/MS/MS) method for simultaneous identification of eight antidiabetic drugs including the previously mentioned ingredients.