Identification of heavy metals in a drug substance

Heavy metals are toxic inorganic impurities found in our environment. Efforts are focused on minimizing the levels of these impurities in all areas: the environment, food, and especially medicines in the health sector. Seven different processes from the European Pharmacopoeia (A G) can be applied. Only processes A, B and C are widely cited in substance monographs.In our work, we applied Processes A and B to different raw materials, and compared these results with those of microanalysis. The results obtained using the touch method enabled us to conclude that the technique is sensitive, rapid, reproducible and cost-effective.