Sustained release of injectable zinc-recombinant hirudin suspensions: development and validation of in vitro release model

In humans, recombinant hirudin (rHir), an anticoagulant protein, has a relatively short half-life (about 1 h). Therefore, a rHir formulation with sustained biological activity was previously proposed to result from complexing zinc salts and rHir (Zn-rHir). The purpose of this paper is to introduce and validate an in vitro release model for subcutaneous Zn-rHir formulations. In glass vials the formulations were suspended in agarose gel (2%) and coated with an extra layer of protein-free agarose. The agarose layers were covered with receiver solution, either buffered solutions (HEPES or PBS, pH 7.4) or human serum. To validate the release model and to demonstrate its potential to discriminate between different formulations, several commercial insulin and Zn-insulin formulations were also tested. The release profiles were evaluated by statistical moment analysis (mean times). Only in HEPES buffer was good discrimination between the investigated insulin formulations observed. The mean times of in vitro release of the insulin formulations and the proposed duration of their biological activities were in correlation. Low discrimination was found in PBS. For rHir, clear discrimination between the investigated rHir formulations was achieved in HEPES buffer, whereas low discrimination was found in PBS or in serum. The developed release model may be a sensitive in vitro test to assure the quality of subcutaneous insulin and rHir formulations, and may also be applicable to assess other slow-release protein and low molecular weight drug injectables. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.