Scientists at the George August University, Germany, are using an Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex API 2000 LC/MS/MS system to research and develop methods for routine therapeutic drug monitoring
Michael Oellerich, head of the department of clinical chemistry at the George August University, explained: "We started using this system over six years ago, when we developed a very elegant tandem MS method for the simultaneous determination of various immunosuppressive drugs such as sirolimus, everolimus, tacrolimus and cyclosporin in whole blood.
"It is also used for determination of total and free plasma concentrations of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in pharmacokinetic studies.
"I am very happy with the API 2000 system; it is robust and reliable and we have practically no relevant down time with our two systems.
"Using LC/MS/MS, we can simultaneously determine several compounds and we have a sufficient throughput with at least 50 per cent fewer direct costs.
"Furthermore, we can work with very low limits of quantification, with very high precision and specificity, far better than immunoassays.
"We are always refining the process, for example, we are now using solid phase extraction with the big advantage that there is less ion suppression.
"This means we can shorten the run time dramatically, from four minutes to about two minutes."
