I cannot say whether or not the claim is valid. If I were trying to develop an assay using HPLC, I would consider working under slightly acidic conditions, and I would try to remove metal ions, with the goal minimizing the rate of oxidation. If you just need to know whether the compound is oxidized or reduced, I suggest using Ellman's reagent or an equivalent compound in a spectrophotometric assay. There is an article about Ellman's reagent by Riddles in Methods in Enzymology, circa 1980. The molar absorptivity of the chromophore produced in the assay is a little greater than 14,000.