Validation of HPLC and UV spectrophotometric methods for the determination of meropenem in pharmaceutical dosage form

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method and a UV spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of meropenem, a highly active carbapenem antibiotic, in powder for injection were developed in present work. The parameters linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, robustness, limit of detection and limit of quantitation were studied according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Chromatography was carried out by reversed-phase technique on an RP-18 column with a mobile phase composed of 30 mM monobasic phosphate buffer and acetonitrile (90:10; v/v), adjusted to pH 3.0 with orthophosphoric acid. The UV spectrophotometric method was performed at 298 nm. The samples were prepared in water and the stability of meropenem in aqueous solution at 4 and 25 °C was studied. The results were satisfactory with good stability after 24 h at 4 °C. Statistical analysis by Student's t-test showed no significant difference between the results obtained by the two methods. The proposed methods are highly sensitive, precise and accurate and can be used for the reliable quantitation of meropenem in pharmaceutical dosage form.