Clinical Development of Imatinib: an Anticancer Drug

Background: A novel and accurate high-throughput tandem mass spectroscopic method has been developed and validated for determination of imatinib, a protein-tyrosine kinase inhibitor against chronic myeloid leukemia. Materials & methods: Chromatographic separation was carried on XTerra ® RP18 column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm particle size) manufactured by Waters Corporation, MA, USA. The detection was performed on a triple quadruple tandem mass spectrometer by multiple reactions monitoring mode via electrospray ionization source. Results: The selective and sensitive method was linear in the concentration range of 9.57–4513.29 ng/ml and reported no matrix effect. Conclusion: The mean C max was found to be 10–15% lower in European subjects as compared with Indian subjects.