SAFEBRIDGE® CONSULTANTS, INC. (“SafeBridge”), headquartered in Mountain View, California announced that its industrial hygiene analytical laboratory has successfully validated an industrial hygiene air sampling and analytical method with improved analytical sensitivity for measurement of naproxen sodium on filters. SafeBridge’s laboratory can now quantify naproxen sodium collected on air sampling media at levels down to 5 picograms per filter. This limit of quantification is ten (10) times lower than methods available from other commercial laboratories.
Naproxen sodium is used in the pharmaceutical, chemical and nuclear industries for containment verification studies and as a surrogate for more potent or toxic compounds to assess potential worker exposure and the performance of containment and control equipment during typical operations. Naproxen sodium has a number of advantages over traditional surrogates such as lactose. It has a high “dustiness quotient” presenting a more aggressive test than lactose and is considered a non-potent water-soluble material. Air monitoring surveys using naproxen sodium are conducted to replicate the performance of containment equipment under “real life” operating conditions.
With this improvement in sensitivity, naproxen sodium can now be measured at airborne concentrations as low as 0.1 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) for 15 minute tasks. This creates an effective tool for organizations involved in handling hazardous materials in powder and liquid forms and to verify that controls can achieve the low Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) and CPTs for highly toxic or potent compounds. This is important to pharmaceutical and chemical companies as well as containment and engineering control vendors to support safety in drug development activities.
