Scientists at the specialised biotech company PharmAbcine are completing formulation and stability studies in a fraction of the time thanks to an Optim 1000 microvolume protein analysis and characterisation instrument from Avacta Analytical. PharmAbcine was established in theRepublicofKoreain 2008 specifically for the development of human monoclonal antibodies into drugs for the treatment of human diseases, including cancer and inflammatory diseases. With one product already undergoing clinical trials for blocking angiogenesis in glioblastomas, and a second monoclonal in development stages, the Company is keen to use high throughput technologies where possible, as Dr Weon Sup Lee, Head of theR&DCenterat PharmAbcine, explained.
“High throughput is very important in the development of drug formulations, especially for a small company like PharmAbcine. With the Optim 1000 we can simultaneously check conformational change and the aggregation status of our molecule. We now use it routinely for looking at formulation and stability, and for developing purification processes taking many different combinations of factors – pH, buffers, adjuvants – into account. The Optim 1000 is easy to use and requires small sample volumes, which is a real advantage. Unlike techniques such as dynamic light scattering, the samples do not need any pretreatment in order to get good results, so we save time and costs there too.”
Dr Lee concluded: “For our first product we used spectrophotometers and HPLC for the preformulation studies and it took several months. In contrast, the same process for our second molecule was completed within a week using the Optim 1000 with DOE (Design of Experiment). It is simply very fast and reliable.”
For more information, visit http://www.avactaanalytical.com/optim-1000
About Avacta Analytical
Avacta Analytical provides services and innovative instrumentation to the biopharmaceutical market. Our focus is to equip customers with a broad range of capabilities, enabling them to develop their therapeutics quicker, cheaper and better.
The groundbreaking Optim 2 instrument combines the powerful analytical capabilities of fluorescence and static light scattering technologies to provide valuable new insights.
Our services business specialises in supporting characterisation, formulation, comparability and stability studies of therapeutic proteins. We are able to draw upon a wide range of analytical capabilities and aim to give our customers a flexible value-added service.
Avacta Analytical is an ISO 9001 2008 registered company.