Development of an HPLC–MS/MS method for the determination of ceftolozane/tazobactam in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid

Abstract

Aim:

We describe the validation of an HPLC–MS/MS method to analyze ceftolozane and tazobactam simultaneously in saline matrixes.

Materials & methods:

An Agilent 1260 HPLC interfaced to an Agilent 6470 triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer was used for quantification. A reverse-phase column running a gradient of water and acetonitrile containing 0.1% formic acid mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min provided chromatographic fractionation. Tazobactam ¹⁵N ₃ was used as the internal standard. The standard curves were linear over a range of 0.02–0.5 μg/ml.

Conclusion:

This methodology represents a simple, reproducible approach to the determination of drug concentrations with accuracy and precision for pharmacokinetic studies undertaken with this recently US FDA-approved antimicrobial therapy.

Lay abstract

We describe the validation of an assay to analyze ceftolozane and tazobactam simultaneously in saline matrixes. This methodology represents a simple, reproducible approach to the determination of drug concentrations. This method can be modified to determine human concentrations of this antibiotic, which would be important for doctors to determine appropriate patient dosing.