Development and validation of a rapid HPLC assay for the simultaneous determination of three psychoanaleptic drugs in pharmaceutical formulations

Atomoxetine, venlafaxine, and fluoxetine are classified as psychoanaleptics. While atomoxetine is used for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the other two are for depressive disorders. A simple, rapid, isocratic, high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the determination of atomoxetine, venlafaxine, and fluoxetine in pharmaceutical products. The HPLC method involves separation by reversed phase HPLC on a Nova-Pak C-18 column (15 cm x 3.9 mm id) using acetonitrile-potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (0.05 M adjusted to pH 3.0 with phosphoric acid) (45:55 v/v) as the mobile phase, at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min at room temperature (25 degrees C), using UV detection at 226 nm. The method was validated for specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), and robustness. The excipients present in the formulations do not interfere with the assay procedure. The developed method was successfully applied to determine atomoxetine, venlafaxine, and fluoxetine in pharmaceutical formulations.