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Reverse Engineering the 1-Month Lupron Depot®

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Abstract

The 1-month Lupron Depot® (LD) encapsulating water-soluble leuprolide in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres is a benchmark product upon which modern long-acting release products are often compared. Despite expiration of patent coverage, no generic product for the LD has been approved in the USA, likely due to the complexity of components and manufacturing processes involved in the product. Here, we describe the reverse engineering of the LD composition and important product attributes. Specific attributes analyzed for microspheres were as follows: leuprolide content by three methods; gelatin content, type, and molecular weight distribution; PLGA content, lactic acid/glycolic acid ratio, and molecular weight distribution; mannitol content; in vitro drug release; residual solvent and moisture content; particle size distribution and morphology; and glass transition temperature. For the diluent, composition, viscosity, and specific gravity were analyzed. Analyzed contents of the formulation and the determined PLGA characteristics matched well with the official numbers stated in the package insert and those found in literature, respectively. The gelatin was identified as type B consistent with ~ 300 bloom. The 11-μm volume-median microspheres in the LD slowly released the drug in vitro in a zero-order manner after ~ 23% initial burst release. Very low content of residual moisture (< 0.5%) and methylene chloride (< 1 ppm) in the product indicates in-water drying is capable of removing solvents to extremely low levels during manufacturing. The rigorous approach of reverse engineering described here may be useful for development of generic leuprolide-PLGA microspheres as well as other new and generic PLGA microsphere formulations.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank Jason Romberg from Anton Paar USA Inc. who helped with the determination of viscosity of the injection diluent.

Funding

This research was funded by FDA contract HHSF223201510170C A0001 BAA. This paper reflects the views of the authors and should not be construed to represent FDA’s views or policies.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Keiji Hirota

    Present address: Production Engineering Department, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 5-5-1, Ukima, Kita-ku, Tokyo, 115-8543, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Biointerfaces Institute, University of Michigan, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Jia Zhou, Keiji Hirota, Rose Ackermann, Jennifer Walker, Anna Schwendeman & Steven P. Schwendeman

  2. Office of Generic Drugs, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, Maryland, 20993, USA

    Yan Wang & Stephanie Choi

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2800 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    Steven P. Schwendeman

Authors
  1. Jia Zhou
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  2. Keiji Hirota
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  3. Rose Ackermann
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  4. Jennifer Walker
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  5. Yan Wang
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  7. Anna Schwendeman
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  8. Steven P. Schwendeman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven P. Schwendeman.

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Zhou, J., Hirota, K., Ackermann, R. et al. Reverse Engineering the 1-Month Lupron Depot®. AAPS J 20, 105 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1208/s12248-018-0253-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1208/s12248-018-0253-2

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