Application of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the determination of semaglutide in human serum in clinical pharmacokinetic studies

Introduction. Semaglutide preparations are an important therapeutic option for patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity due to their high efficacy and the expected increase in the prevalence of these diseases. Consequently, there is a growing need for the development of domestic analogs of semaglutide requiring bioequivalence studies. This study proposes the use of high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) as an alternative to the widely used immunoassay for the quantitative determination of semaglutide in human serum.

Aim. To develop and validate a method for the quantitative determination of semaglutide in human serum using HPLC-MS/MS.

Materials and methods. Serum sample preparation was based on protein precipitation using an acetonitrile-methanol mixture. Liraglutide was selected as the internal standard. The mobile phase consisted of 0.3% formic acid in water and acetonitrile. The stationary phase was represented by a Phenomenex Kinetex C18 chromatographic column 100×3.0 mm, 5 μm, 100 Å. Ionization of semaglutide and liraglutide was performed in positive electrospray mode. Detection was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM).

Results. The method demonstrated high accuracy and precision, with relative error and relative standard deviation values of less than 15% across all quality control levels. The confirmed analytical ranges of the method were 0.50–200.00 ng/mL and 1.00–800.00 ng/mL. Over 3.400 volunteer samples were analyzed as part of the studies. Compared to the ELISA method, the proposed method provides higher selectivity and reproducibility of measurements.

Conclusions. The method has been developed that provides reproducible quantitative determination of semaglutide in human blood serum. The method was validated in accordance with EAEU requirements and was successfully applied in bioequivalence studies of semaglutide GP40331 (GEROPHARM LLC, Russia). The method is suitable for conducting pharmacokinetic studies of other semaglutide preparations.

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