Influence of formaldehyde impurity in polysorbate 80 and PEG-300 on the stability of a parenteral formulation of BMS-204352: Identification and control of the degradation product

The purpose of this study was to identify a degradation product formed in the clinical parenteral formulation of BMS-204352, investigate the role of excipients in its formation, and develop a strategy to minimize/control its formation. The degradant was identified as the hydroxy methyl derivative (formaldehyde adduct, BMS-215842) of the drug substance based upon liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy (LC/MS), liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy/mass spectroscopy (LC/MS/MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and chromatographic comparison to an authentic sample of hydroxymethyl degradation product, BMS-215842. An assay method for the detection of formaldehyde based on HPLC quantitation of formaldehyde dinitrophenylhydrazone was developed to quantitate its levels in various Polysorbate 80 and PEG 300 excipient lots. A direct relationship between the levels of formaldehyde in the excipients and the formation of the hydroxymethyl degradant was found. To confirm the hypothesis that the formaldehyde impurity in these two excipients contributed to the formation of the hydroxymethyl degradant, several clinical formulation lots were spiked with formaldehyde equivalent to 1, 10, and 100 mg/g of BMS-204352. A correlation was found between the formaldehyde level and the quantity of the hydroxymethyl degradant formed upon storage at 5 and 25degreesC. From these experiments, a limit test on the formaldehyde content in polysorbate 80 and PEG 300 can be set as part of a strategy to limit the formation of the degradation product.