Characterizing the Formulation Design Space - Design of experiments is a valuable tool for identifying aspects of a formulation that are critical to product quality. - BioPharm International
Design of experiments (DOE) is a valuable tool for identifying aspects of a formulation that are critical to product quality.
The formulation design space can be characterized by performing excipient robustness studies that use DOE. This paper presents
considerations for performing robustness studies as well as two case studies in which DOE was used to determine the robustness
of protein formulations to changes in protein, excipient, and pH levels. The results from the DOE studies identified formulation
components that must be tightly controlled and showed that variations had a minimal impact to product in formulation component
levels within the formulation design space.
Human Genome Sciences
The US Food and Drug Administration's Quality by Design (QbD) initiative encourages pharmaceutical manufacturers to use modern
tools that facilitate the implementation of robust manufacturing processes and reliably produce pharmaceuticals of high quality.1 Filing a new drug application (NDA) or biologics license application (BLA) under the QbD initiative may reduce the extent
of regulatory oversight and may result in faster review times. Implementing a QbD approach in the development and characterization
of manufacturing processes and products provides several advantages. These include a more thorough understanding of the manufacturing
process and the product, as well as the potential for increased process and product robustness and process efficiency. The
International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) Q82, Q93, and Q104 guidelines describe principles, tools, and examples for implementing QbD. One of these tools is the use of formal experimental
designs or design of experiments (DOE) to characterize and establish a functional design space.
DOE is a tool that can be used during formulation development to screen for stabilizing excipients, determine excipient levels
that provide optimal stability with adequate robustness, and characterize the formulation design space. The design space is
defined in ICH Q8 as, "the multidimensional combination and interaction of input variables (e.g., material attributes) and
process parameters that have been demonstrated to provide assurance of quality." The formulation design space would thus define
limits for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), excipients, pH ranges, and other critical characteristics in the formulation
that maintain product stability. Because multiple formulation components are screened simultaneously, the combinations that
provide optimum stability and interactions among formulation components can be identified. For example, in protein formulations
that contain sodium chloride (NaCl), an interaction between pH and NaCl concentration is likely to be observed because both
modulate electrostatic interactions. A DOE formulation screening study can thus help to identify optimum levels of pH and
NaCl for stability.5 Similarly, in lyophilized or spray-dried protein formulations, an interaction may be observed between protein and cryo/lyoprotectant
levels because an optimum ratio of the stabilizer to protein is required for cold and dehydration-induced denaturation.6,7 DOE also can be used to identify effective preservatives for multi-dose protein formulations at optimal concentrations for
antimicrobial efficacy and protein stability, to characterize the effect of stress conditions and degradation pathway mechanisms
in forced degradation studies, and to characterize the effect of formulation components on drug delivery systems.8–13
The robustness of the formulated product can be characterized further in excipient robustness studies that use DOE.14,15 Excipient robustness studies performed using DOE can:
identify critical formulation components; these are formulation components whose levels must be tightly controlled to maintain
product stability or performance
provide limits in which variations in the levels of formulation components have minimal or no effect on product stability
or performance
determine the effect on product stability of variations outside normal operating and proven acceptable ranges
identify and characterize the interactions among formulation components
confirm that the product is not formulated near a design space cliff or discontinuity.
Figure 1
Excipient robustness studies can, hence, be used to evaluate and characterize the formulation design space (Figure 1).
Adeola O. Grillo, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the Feik School of Pharmacy, University of the Incarnate Word
Articles by Adeola O. Grillo, PhD
Martin Kane
Martin Kane is an associate director of process statistics in the department of biostatistics, in biopharmaceutical development at Human Genome Sciences
Articles by Martin Kane
Neçois Penn
Neçois Penn is a bioprocess associate in the department of drug product sciences in biopharmaceutical development at Human Genome Sciences
Articles by Neçois Penn
Melissa Perkins, PhD, is the director of the department of drug product sciences, all in biopharmaceutical development at Human Genome Sciences
Articles by Melissa Perkins, PhD
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