Quetiapine Carboxylic Acid and Quetiapine Sulfoxide Prevalence in Patient Urine

Treatment adherence is often an issue with mental health patients. For those prescribed quetiapine (Seroquel(A (R))), the low levels of parent drug and plasma metabolite(s) (e.g., 7-hydroxyquetiapine) typically used in urine drug monitoring can result in false negatives with concomitant unfavorable impacts on patient care. Literature review coupled with liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis of patient positive urine samples indicated the presence of quetiapine carboxylic acid and quetiapine sulfoxide as significant urinary metabolites of quetiapine. Analysis of these two metabolites determined that they are abundant in the urine of quetiapine patients and can result in apparent adherence rates that are improved relative to those determined using only quetiapine and 7-hydroxyquetiapine. For example, analysis of a random set of 114 patients who were prescribed quetiapine exhibited an apparent adherence rate of 47% using the quetiapine carboxylic acid and quetiapine sulfoxide metabolites. Traditional metabolite testing with quetiapine and 7-hydroxyquetiapine yielded apparent adherence rates of similar to 31% while all four analytes resulted in apparent adherence of 48%. The prevalence of these metabolites suggests that quetiapine urine drug testing would be more consistent with prescriptions when they are included in the analysis.