Stable liquid formulations of melphalan

This application is a U.S. National Phase filing under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application PCT/IB2016/053881, filed Jun. 29, 2016, and published as WO 2017/002030 A1 on Jan. 5, 2017. PCT/IB2016/053881 claims priority from Indian application number 3328/CHE/2015, filed Jun. 30, 2015. The entire contents of each of these applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Melphalan, also known as L-phenylalanine mustard, L-PAM, or L-sarcolysin is a phenylalanine derivative of nitrogen mustard. Melphalan is a bifunctional alkylating agent that is active against selected human neoplastic diseases. The molecular formula is C 13 H 18 Cl 2 N 2 O 2 and the molecular weight is 305.20. The structural formula is:

U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,651 to Stephen et al., discloses two-component pharmaceutical formulation of Melphalan comprising freeze-dried Melphalan hydrochloride and a solvent-diluent comprising a citrate, propylene glycol and ethanol.

U.S patent application No. 2013/0131174 to Castillo et al., discloses a solid lyophilized composition of Melphalan hydrochloride having a pH between 4 and 6.

U.S patent application Nos. 2010/0311838, 2014/0213650 and 2014/0221488 disclose parenteral compositions comprising Melphalan and a cyclodextrin derivative.

RU2060031 discloses parenteral lyophilized formulation comprising a Melphalan, polyvinylpyrrolidone, ascorbic acid, glutamic acid, hydrochloric acid and D-mannitol.

The commercial formulation of injectable Alkeran® consists of two components comprising of Melphalan hydrochloride and polyvinylpyrrolidone lyophilized and a diluent comprising a mixture of sodium citrate, water for injection, propylene glycol and ethanol.

The Alkeran® to be infused must be diluted to not more than 0.45 mg/ml in normal saline and infused over 15 minutes.

The reconstitution of the lyophilized product is clinically inconvenient and the lyophilization process is time consuming and often incurs significant expense. Hence, there is a strong need to develop alternate formulations of Melphalan.

The inventors have developed ready to use liquid formulation of Melphalan which overcomes the disadvantages of the formulations reported in prior art.

One object of the invention provides ready to use liquid parenteral formulation of Melphalan.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide ready to use liquid parenteral formulation comprising Melphalan, one or more solvents, anti-oxidants and other pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvants thereof.

Yet another aspect of the present invention provides method for preparing ready to use liquid parenteral formulation of Melphalan comprising Melphalan Hydrochloride, one or more solvents, anti-oxidants and other pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvants thereof.

In the context of this invention “Melphalan” refers to the pharmaceutically acceptable salts, solvates, hydrates and anhydrous forms thereof, preferably Melphalan Hydrochloride.

As used herein, “ready to use” Melphalan formulations refers to formulations that contain Melphalan in dissolved or solubilized form and are intended to be used as such or upon further dilution in intravenous diluents.

In one embodiment, ready to use liquid parenteral formulations of Melphalan comprise

i. Melphalan, ii. one or more solvents, iii. anti-oxidants,

optionally other pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvants thereof.

In yet another embodiment, ready to use liquid parenteral formulations of Melphalan comprise

i. Melphalan Hydrochloride, ii. one or more solvents selected from the group comprising of dimethylacetamide, polyethylene glycol, ethanol, propylene glycol and glycerine, iii. anti-oxidants selected from monothioglycerol, L-cysteine, ascorbic acid and

optionally other pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvants thereof.

The composition according to the present invention is intended to be stored at a temperature of 2-8° C.

Suitable solvents include, but are not limited to dimethylacetamide (DMA), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), N-methylpyrrolidone, dimethylisosorbide, ethanol, propylene glycol, glycerine, polyethylene alcohol, propylene glycol esters, polyethylene glycols and the like. Preferred solvents are dimethylacetamide (DMA), ethanol, polyethylene glycols (PEG), glycerine and propylene glycol.

The pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention also contain one or more anti-oxidants selected from the group, but not limited to butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT), citric acid, lactic acid, benzoic acid, tocopherol (Vitamin E), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, sodium metabisulfite, sodium bisulfite, monothioglycerol, ascorbic acid and their esters, L-cysteine, parabens, benzyl alcohol, propyl gallate, thioglycolic acid, tartaric acid, phosphoric acid, gluconic acid, thiodipropionic acid, acetonic dicarboxylic acid, amino acids such as histidine, cysteine, tryptophan, tyrosine; chelating agents and the like. Most preferred anti-oxidant is monothioglycerol.

The formulation of the present invention may additionally contain buffers, pH adjusting agents, stabilizers such as, but not limited to citrate buffer, glutamate, dicarboxylic acid, lecithin, di(hydroxyethyl)glycine, sorbitol, bicarbonate, tartrate, benzoate, lactate, gluconate, glycine, TRIS buffer, acetate buffer, boric acid buffer, phosphate buffer, amino acids, meglumine and the like.

Solubility studies were carried out with various solvents at 25° C. temperature, to check the solubility of Melphalan hydrochloride. The data is summarized in table 1:

In one of the preferred embodiment, ready to use liquid parenteral formulations of Melphalan comprise:

i. Melphalan Hydrochloride 1 to 30% ii. dimethylacetamide or polyethylene glycol 20 to 95%  iii. ethanol 0 to 50% iv. propylene glycol. 5 to 50% v. monothioglycerol 0.05 to 5%

by weight of the composition.

The invention further relates to a process of preparing liquid formulations of Melphalan. The process comprises:

i. Addition of Melphalan to the manufacturing vessel containing solvent and stirred till a clear solution is obtained. ii. Addition of remaining solvents to the above solution and stirred. iii. Addition of anti-oxidant to the solution and stirred till a homogenous solution is obtained. iv. Filtering and filling the solution in to suitable containers or vials.

Melphalan formulation prepared according to the invention was tested for stability at various stability conditions such as 2-8° C. and 25° C./60% RH for a period of 6 months. Stability data is summarized in table 2.

Surprisingly no significant increase in total impurities was observed even at 25° C./65% RH. The inventors have found that liquid pharmaceutical formulation of Melphalan comprising of one or more solvents selected form DMA, Ethanol, PEG and propylene glycol in the presence of an anti-oxidant yields a stable liquid formulation of Melphalan overcoming the disadvantages associated with prior art.

Comparative dilution studies were performed to check the stability of the diluted formulations. Melphalan formulation prepared according to the invention was diluted with 0.9% NaCl to get concentration of 0.45 mg/mL. Alkeran® vial (Batch No: P283) was considered as reference for comparative dilution study. Stability of the diluted product was studied at 0 minutes, 30 mins and 60 min. The stability data of the invention formulation and reference product is summarized in table 3.

Surprisingly Melphalan formulation prepared according to the invention showed better stability profile compared to the reference product.

The following examples further describe certain specific aspects and embodiments of the present invention and demonstrate the practice and advantages thereof.