Biostability study, quantitation method and preliminary pharmacokinetics of a new antifilovirus agent based on borneol and 3-(piperidin-1-yl)propanoic acid

•Method for quantification of a compound unstable in blood was developed and validated.•Addition of sodium fluoride was found to inhibit enzymes hydrolyzing the agent.•Twenty microlitres of whole blood from the animal is enough for analysis.•Method suitability was demonstrated in a preliminary pharmacokinetics study in rats. The stability of the new antifiloviral agent AS-358, which is a derivative of borneol and 3-(piperidin-1-yl)propanoic acid, was studied in the blood and blood plasma of rats in vitro. It was found that both in the blood and in the plasma stabilized by EDTA or heparin, the compound is rapidly hydrolyzed at the ester bond. When sodium fluoride was added to the whole blood, the decomposition of the compound was significantly slowed down, which made it possible to develop and validate a method for the quantitative determination of the agent in this matrix. The method was validated in terms of selectivity, calibration dependence, LLOQ, accuracy and precision, stability in an autosampler, recovery, and carry-over. A 8:2 v/v mixture of methanol containing 2-adamantylamine hydrochloride (internal standard, IS) with 0.2 M aqueous zinc sulfate was used for blood sample treatment and protein precipitation. Analysis was performed by HPLC-MS/MS using reversed phase chromatography. MS/MS detection was performed on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer 6500 QTRAP (SCIEX) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The transitions 294.5→158.2/98.1 and 152.2→107.2/93.1 were monitored for AS-358 and the IS, respectively. The calibration curve was built in the concentration range of 1−500 ng/mL, the intra-day and inter-day accuracy and precision, carry-over and recovery were within the acceptable limits. The developed method was used for a preliminary study of the pharmacokinetics of the agent AS-358 after its oral administration to rats. It was shown that when the substance was administered at a dose of 200 mg/kg, its concentration in the blood of animals reached 550 ng/mL after 1 h, despite its instability in blood.