Five new General Chapters in the European Pharmacopoeia on Genotoxic Impurities in Pharmaceutical APIs

During the manufacture of APIs as sulfonate salts, esters of sulfonic acid may develop in undesired chemical side reactions. Recently, five new General Monographs have been included in the European Pharmacopoeia which describe how to cope with these impurities. Read more about these genotoxic impurities and the possibility to control them thanks to risk assessments.

http://www.gmp-compliance.org/enews_05313_Five-new-General-Chapters-in-the-European-Pharmacopoeia-on-Genotoxic-Impurities-in-Pharmaceutical-APIs_15499,S-AYL_n.html

Sulfonic acids are often used for the manufacture of pharmaceutical APIs. They serve as counterions in crystallisation processes, as protective groups or acid catalysts in API syntheses. Here, if short-chain alcohols such as methanol, ethanol or isopropanol are present, the formation of esters of these sulfonic acids can occur, which may have a genotoxic potential (alkylation of DNA).

The Mesilate Working Party which has been appointed in 2008 by the European Pharmacopoeia Commission has elaborated five General Chapters on different sulfonates which have been published in the European Pharmacopoeia Supplement 8.7 that came into force on 1 April 2016. The…