The aim of the work was to prepare a simple but reliable HPLC-UV method for the routine monitoring of mycophenolic acid (MPA). Sample preparation was based on plasma protein precipitation with acetonitrile. The isocratic separation of MPA and internal standard (IS) fenbufen was made on Supelcosil LC-CN column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) using a mobile phase: CH3CN:H2O:0.5M KH2PO4:H3PO4 (260:700:40:0.4, v/v). UV detection was set at 305 nm. The calibration covered the MPA concentration range: 0.1-40 µg/mL. The precision was satisfactory with RSD of 0.97-7.06% for intra-assay and of 1.92-5.15% for inter-assay. The inaccuracy was found between -5.72% and +2.96% (+15.40% at LLOQ) and between -8.82% and +5.31% (+19.00% at LLOQ) for intra- and inter-assay, respectively, fulfilling acceptance criteria. After a two-year period of successful application, the presented method has been retrospectively calibrated using the raw data disregarding the IS in the calculations. The validation and stability parameters were similar for both calculation methods. MPA concentrations were recalculated and compared in 1187 consecutive routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) trough plasma samples from mycophenolate-treated patients. A high agreement (r2 = 0.9931, p < 0.0001) of the results was found. A Bland-Altman test revealed a mean bias of -0.011 μg/mL (95% CI: -0.017; -0.005) comprising -0.14% (95% Cl: -0.39; +0.11), whereas the Passing-Bablok regression was y = 0.986x + 0.014. The presented method can be recommended as an attractive analytical tool for medical (hospital) laboratories equipped with solely basic HPLC apparatus. The procedure can be further simplified by disapplying an internal standard while maintaining appropriate precision and accuracy of measurements.
Keywords: HPLC; internal standard; mycophenolic acid; therapeutic drug monitoring; validation.