Lonza Introduces Risk Assessment Platform for Biopharmaceuticals

Early risk assessment has become a crucial factor in biopharmaceutical drug development programs. To address this growing market need, Lonza launched a Developability Assessment Platform that is designed to reduce attrition rates and improve the ranking of early drug candidates, according to a press release. The prediction tools include a suite of in silico-based services that assess candidates for fitness for large-scale manufacture (manufacturability) and immunogenicity profiles in humans (safety).

The manufacturability assessment service analyzes chemical degradation pathways and post-translational modifications, including deamidation, oxidation, and glycosylation, as well as potential physical stability issues, such as protein aggregation. The safety assessment service uses Lonza’s proprietary Epibase in silico screening tool to identify potential T-cell epitopes in target proteins that may trigger potential immune reactions in human studies.