Although protein based therapeutics is the fastest growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry, production costs remain incredibly high and rapid commercialization of new protein drug candidates are not being fully realized due to the presence of many barriers, namely the physical and chemical instabilities of proteins. Of these degradation pathways, protein aggregation is arguably the most common and troubling manifestation of protein instability, occurring in almost all phases of development. Protein aggregates are usually nonnative in structure, may exhibit reduced biological activity, and can remain soluble and/or precipitate from solution. In addition to reducing efficacy, if administered to a patient, aggregates can cause adverse reactions, such as immune response, sensitization, or even anaphylactic shock. Therefore, if even a small amount of aggregates form during formulation or storage, a product can be rendered unacceptable. Moreover, for the practical application of traditional and novel drug delivery techniques, protein based therapeutics must be formulated at relatively high concentrations and must remain stable for extended periods of time. The structural differences among various proteins are so significant, that the application of a universal stabilization strategy has not yet been successful, though the effects of common excipients are generally universal. The current approach toward stabilizing protein drugs against aggregation is by trial-and-error testing of different combinations of cosolutes (e.g. salts, sugars, surfactants, amino acids, etc.) using empirically derived heuristics. While ubiquitously used, this approach is inefficient and does not always enable the discovery of stable protein solution formulations. In response to this major problem, we have developed and tested a new class of excipients that has the potential for wide spread application as a universal stabilizer of protein therapeutics. When compared to other commonly used excipients, our novel excipients offer more than an order of magnitude improvement at suppressing the aggregation of a model protein. As a result, if used in formulations, the shelf life of a protein drug, at room or refrigerated temperatures, may be extended from a few weeks to several months or years. Furthermore, these excipients will likely be useful during production and purification for improving yield and lowering downstream purification costs.

This title is intended to assist pharmaceutical scientists in the development of stable protein formulations during the early stages of the product development process, providing a comprehensive review of mechanisms and causes of protein instability in formulation development, coverage of accelerated stability testing methods and relevant analytica

This book gives pharmaceutical scientists an up-to-date resource on protein aggregation and its consequences, and available methods to control or slow down the aggregation process. While significant progress has been made in the past decade, the current understanding of protein aggregation and its consequences is still immature. Prevention or even moderate inhibition of protein aggregation has been mostly experimental. The knowledge in this book can greatly help pharmaceutical scientists in the development of therapeutic proteins, and also instigate further scientific investigations in this area. This book fills such a need by providing an overview on the causes, consequences, characterization, and control of the aggregation of therapeutic proteins.

In this volume, the authors discuss the many significant challenges currently faced in biotechnology dosage form development, providing guidance, shared experience and thoughtful reflection on how best to address these potential concerns. As the field of therapeutic recombinant therapeutic proteins enters its fourth decade and the market for biopharmaceuticals becomes increasingly competitive, companies are increasingly dedicating resources to develop innovative biopharmaceuticals to address unmet medical needs. Often, the pharmaceutical development scientist is encountering challenging pharmaceutical properties of a given protein or by the demands placed on the product by stability, manufacturing and preclinical or clinical expectations, as well as the evolving regulatory expectations and landscape. Further, there have been new findings that require close assessment, as for example those related to excipient quality, processing, viscosity and device compatibility and administration, solubility and opalescence and container-closure selection. The literature varies widely in its discussion of these critical elements and consensus does not exist. This topic is receiving a great deal of attention within the biotechnology industry as well as with academic researchers and regulatory agencies globally. Therefore, this book is of interest for business leaders, researchers, formulation and process development scientists, analytical scientists, QA and QC officers, regulatory staff, manufacturing leaders and regulators active in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, and expert reviewers in regulatory agencies.

Recombinant proteins and polypeptides continue to be the most important class of biotechnology-derived agents in today's pharmaceutical industry. Over the past few years, our fundamental understanding of how proteins degrade and how stabilizing agents work has made it possible to approach formulation of protein pharmaceuticals from a much more rational point of view. This book describes the current level of understanding of protein instability and the strategies for stabilizing proteins under a variety of stressful conditions.

A comprehensive source of information about modern drying technologies that uniquely focus on the processing of pharmaceuticals and biologicals Drying technologies are an indispensable production step in the pharmaceutical industry and the knowledge of drying technologies and applications is absolutely essential for current drug product development. This book focuses on the application of various drying technologies to the processing of pharmaceuticals and biologicals. It offers a complete overview of innovative as well as standard drying technologies, and addresses the issues of why drying is required and what the critical considerations are for implementing this process operation during drug product development. Drying Technologies for Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Applications discusses the state-of-the-art of established drying technologies like freeze- and spray- drying and highlights limitations that need to be overcome to achieve the future state of pharmaceutical manufacturing. The book also describes promising next generation drying technologies, which are currently used in fields outside of pharmaceuticals, and how they can be implemented and adapted for future use in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, it deals with the generation of synergistic effects (e.g. by applying process analytical technology) and provides an outlook toward future developments. -Presents a full technical overview of well established standard drying methods alongside various other drying technologies, possible improvements, limitations, synergies, and future directions -Outlines different drying technologies from an application-oriented point of view and with consideration of real world challenges in the field of drug product development -Edited by renowned experts from the pharmaceutical industry and assembled by leading experts from industry and academia Drying Technologies for Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Applications is an important book for pharma engineers, process engineers, chemical engineers, and others who work in related industries.

Protein pharmaceuticals form a fast-growing category in the arsenal of drugs. This book explores the nature of different analytical techniques and the way in which they are related to pharmaceutical proteins. In addition to serving the analytical chemist, this book is needed by the formulation scientist who is responsible for design and formulation of a pharmaceutical protein that can be monitored during production and over time.

Tested and proven solutions to the challenges of biological drug product development Biological drug products play a central role in combating human diseases; however, developing new successful biological drugs presents many challenges, including labor intensive production processes, tighter regulatory controls, and increased market competition. This book reviews the current state of the science, offering readers a single resource that sets forth the fundamentals as well as tested and proven development strategies for biological drugs. Moreover, the book prepares readers for the challenges that typically arise during drug development, offering straightforward solutions to improve their ability to pass through all the regulatory hurdles and deliver new drug products to the market. Biological Drug Products begins with general considerations for the development of any biological drug product and then explores the strategies and challenges involved in the development of specific types of biologics. Divided into five parts, the book examines: Part 1: General Aspects Part 2: Proteins and Peptides Part 3: Vaccines Part 4: Novel Biologics Part 5: Product Administration/Delivery Each chapter has been prepared by one or more leading experts in biological drug development. Contributions are based on a comprehensive review and analysis of the current literature as well as the authors' first-hand experience developing and testing new drugs. References at the end of each chapter serve as a gateway to original research papers and reviews in the field. By incorporating lessons learned and future directions for research, Biological Drug Products enables pharmaceutical scientists and students to improve their success rate in developing new biologics to treat a broad range of human diseases.

Presents an updated review of the recent research in formulation and delivery of proteins and peptides. Examines measurement and characterization of degradation products formed during storage, degradation mechanisms, and model systems designed to predict formulation stability. Discusses stabilization of proteins and peptides through lyophilization and focuses on the use of FTIR as a tool for understanding the role of excipients during lyophilization. Describes potential new routes and methods of delivery such as depot systems based on biodegradable polymers and aerosol systems for pulmonary delivery.