A critical review of analytical methods reported for the estimation of posaconazole in biological and pharmaceutical samples

Context: Clinicians frequently prescribe azole antifungal drugs for prophylaxis as well as the treatment of invasive fungal infections. Posaconazole is an important and widely prescribed azole antifungal drug to prevent serious fungal infections and manage invasive fungal infections. It was initially approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in 2006 as an oral suspension, later as delayed-release tablets in 2013 and as an injection in 2014. Posaconazole has a large volume of distribution and undergoes extensive extravascular distribution. Moreover, individuals show extremely variable peak serum concentrations. For this very reason, it is imperative to have a robust and reliable analytical method for estimating PSZ in various sample matrices. Methods: This article emphasizes numerous analytical methods for estimating PSZ in pharmaceutical formulations and biological matrices, such as high-performance liquid chromatography, high–pressure/performance thin layer chromatography, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, capillary electrophoresis and liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy-tandem mass spectroscopy methods. Results and discussion: This article is expected to give the scientific community critical insights into the various reported analytical methods to choose the best analytical strategy for their scientific or clinical research, endowed with excellent reproducibility and reliability. Conclusion: Researchers can use this review to select a suitable extraction technique of PSZ as well as analytical methods for estimating PSZ in pharmaceutical formulations and biological matrices.