An Application of Quality by Design and Analytical Greenness Assessment Approach for the Development of Erlotinib Stability Indicating Method

Pharmaceutical regulators are worried about medication quality and stability since drug degradation may result in harmful chemicals. Erlotinib (ERL) is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor associated with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) containing susceptible functional groups such as quinazoline and amine ketone, methoxy, and ethoxy leads to a reduction in pharmaceutical quality. According to the ICH-Q1A (R2) guideline, the goal of ERL stability studies is to establish its susceptibility to degradation under various environmental conditions. A novel isocratic stability–indicating liquid chromatography method has been developed using systemic quality by design (QbD) approach. The QbD strategy includes screening and optimization as phases. Placket Burman was used for primary parameters screening, and critical factors were optimized with response surface design. The prepared degradation samples (acid, base, neutral hydrolysis, oxidative, photolytic, and thermal) were separated using a Shimadzu GIST C18 column (250 mm?×?4.6 mm, 5 µm) with 15 mM ammonium formate: ACN (58:42% v/v) as mobile phase, 0.9 mL/min flow rate, and 246 nm wavelength, which was found to be LC–MS compatible. A total of six degradation products (DPs) were identified with the optimized chromatography method. The drug was sensitive toward acidic and basic hydrolysis, but it remained stable under neutral, oxidative, thermal, and photolytic stress conditions. The optimized method was sensitive, specific, and robust, with linearity ranging from 10 to 35 µg/mL, with a correlation coefficient (R²?=?0.9997). The analytical method greenness score was calculated and observed that the developed method is green.