High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic-Tandem Mass Spectrometric Determination of Itraconazole in Human Plasma for Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Studies

A highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric method (HPLC-MSMS) has been developed to quantify itraconazole in human plasma for the purpose of pharmacokinetic studies. Sample preparation was carried out by liquid-liquid extraction using loratadine as an internal standard. Chromatographic separation used a YMC $C_{18}$ column, giving an extremely fast total run time of 3 min. The method was validated and used for the bioequivalence study of itraconazole tablets in healthy male volunteers (n = 31). The lower limit of detection proved to be 0.2 ng /mL for itraconazole.