Robustness testing, using experimental design, of a flow-through dissolution method for a product where the actives have markedly differing solubility properties

The use of experimental design for the robustness testing of a flow-through dissolution method (Ph Eur/USP Apparatus 4) for atovaquone, one of the drug substances in a dual-active anti-malarial tablet formulation, Malarone tablets, is described. This procedure was developed to overcome the suppression of the atovaquone solubility, caused by the presence of the co-drug proguanil hydrochloride and potential imprecision due to the poor solubility of the coating material in the basic dissolution media employed. For this testing a quarter fractional two-level factorial design was applied, assessing six factors in sixteen experiments, with a further six centre points to assess natural experimental variation. Results demonstrate that the method is robust to small changes in all the main factors evaluated at sample times of 30 min or greater. At 15 min, variations in the concentration of sodium hydroxide in the dissolution media, peristaltic pump speed and flow rate were assessed as statistically significant. This observation is a result of the initial steepness of the dissolution release curve and hence these factors are now controlled routinely in the method. Release of this poorly soluble drug is limited at the 45 min time point (Q = 75%) according to pharmacopoeial guidelines. The approach may be applied for other dissolution procedures. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.