Catalent

Articles by Catalent

Developers of innovative drug products dealing with protein formulations, nucleotide-based drugs, peptides, and poorly soluble molecules, face significant challenges in achieving efficient and scalable manufacturing solutions. Spray drying has emerged as a powerful and versatile manufacturing technology. It offers significant advantages for stabilizing complex and sensitive drug molecules while optimizing production processes. Join our panel of experts as they explore how spray drying can be applied to enhance the stability, bioavailability, and manufacturability of various molecules, including peptides, oligonucleotides, small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, and nutraceuticals. This session will cover the latest innovations in spray drying technology, and provide valuable insights into formulation development, process parameters optimization, and large-scale production. Attendees will also learn how to maintain molecular integrity during the spray drying process and leverage in-silico tools to streamline commercialization.

Pharmaceutical micronization plays a pivotal role in enhancing the efficacy and bioavailability of many active pharmaceutical ingredients and the need for robust, repeatable and precise particle size control is critical. This article provides an in-depth review of milling equipment, including jet, pin, hammer, conical and cryogenic mills. Each technique is influenced by material properties like hardness/brittleness, morphology, and moisture content, as well as milling parameters such as feed rate, grinding pressure, mill speed and temperature. By selecting the right milling equipment and optimizing its operation, pharmaceutical innovators can ensure that their products meet the highest standards of quality, efficacy, and safety.

Small pharmaceutical companies are constantly seeking innovative solutions to streamline early clinical trials. Adaptive clinical trials offer important benefits to sponsors and patients, both from a commercial and ethical standpoint. These trials offer flexibility and efficiency, especially in the early stages, where trial protocols can be adjusted based on interim data, such as introducing new doses or modifying participant sample size. However, adjusting manufacturing demand during an adaptive trial can be complicated, and strict regulatory requirements present significant challenges. On-demand manufacturing provides a robust solution, allowing for real-time supply and demand adjustments and improved trial flexibility. This paper explores how on-demand manufacturing meets the operational needs of adaptive trials and aligns with regulatory expectations.

Catalent has developed a cutting-edge bioassay using real-time quantitative reverse transcription (RT-qPCR) in a duplex format to measure transcription activity in cells treated with ligands or transgenic vectors. This reliable and reproducible assay is a valuable tool for evaluating the relative potency of various test substances. Enhance your research with Catalent’s robust cell-based potency assays.

Transcriptional activity within a cell can be used to evaluate cell response to a ligand or promoter activity within a transgene or plasmid within a cell. Catalent has developed a relative potency bioassay using real-time quantitative reverse transcription (RT-qPCR) in a duplex format to assess relative transcription activity in cells treated with ligands or transgenic vectors. The assay utilizes two fluorescent dyes with minimally overlapping emission spectra that allow real-time monitoring of the gene expression of both target and normalizer genes. The assay does not require purification of the mRNA produced by the cells once lysis has occurred. Normalizing the qPCR cycle thresholds (CT) of the target transcript to the reference transcript allows response curve to be generated and compared to a reference standard. The generation of a four-parameter fit curve analysis from raw qPCR cycle threshold data allows for comparison of relative potency and assessment of suitability based on curve parallelism. The assay platform has been used by Catalent to qualify a repeatable, accurate, linear, and specific bioassay for assessing relative potency.

The manufacture of protein-based drugs is complex and relies on using biological host systems. This can result in small changes in protein structure during production and formation of protein variants that can have a large impact on functionality. This heterogeneity — variations in the protein size, charge or structure — can significantly impact the safety and activity of the final biotherapeutic or biosimilar therapy, potentially hindering their beneficial effect. It is vital that charged variant profiles of biologics are adequately characterized, as many post-translational modifications (PTMs) may alter the charge of the molecule, in turn impacting its stability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. In this article, Catalent explores protein variants, focusing on charged variants, by outlining their impact on protein-based drugs, and explain how specific characterization techniques can be used to determine product safety and efficacy.

Transcriptional activity within a cell can be used to evaluate cell response to a ligand or promoter activity within a transgene or plasmid within a cell. Catalent has developed a relative potency bioassay using real-time quantitative reverse transcription (RT-qPCR) in a duplex format to assess relative transcription activity in cells treated with ligands or transgenic vectors. The assay utilizes two fluorescent dyes with minimally overlapping emission spectra that allow real-time monitoring of the gene expression of both target and normalizer genes. Notably, the assay simplifies the process by eliminating the need for mRNA purification, enabling more efficient and accurate analysis. Normalizing the qPCR cycle thresholds (CT) of the target transcript to the reference transcript allows the response curve to be generated and compared to a reference standard. The generation of a four-parameter fit curve analysis from raw qPCR cycle threshold data allows for the comparison of relative potency and assessment of suitability based on curve parallelism. Catalent has successfully implemented this assay platform to develop a reliable, accurate, and specific bioassay. It stands out for its linear response and reproducibility, making it a valuable tool for evaluating the relative potency of various test substances. Join us to explore how these robust cell-based potency assays can enhance your research and provide critical data on drug product potency.

Biophysical characterization is critical to understand the make-up and behaviors of biologic therapies and vaccines, both early in development and throughout the manufacturing scale-up process. As biologics become more complex in structure, and as scientists improve their understanding of the effects of structure on stability, efficacy, safety, etc., there is a need to develop new and improved analytical methods to characterize biologic products. During this presentation, experts will discuss the latest challenges in biophysical characterization and will present solutions to overcome these challenges.

The characterization and analysis of advanced therapies, such as cell and gene therapies (CGTs) can be difficult, as these products are designed to function using complex mechanisms of action (MOA)s. There are a wide range of challenges associated with accurately assessing the potency and impurity profiles of these complex biologicals. As many CGT programs qualify for accelerated review pathways, novel approaches for analysis and characterization can help generate data that allows for real-time decision making and faster development timelines. Catalent has developed a relative potency bioassay using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to assess relative transcription activity in cells treated with ligands or transgenic vectors. The assay platform can be used to qualify a repeatable, accurate, linear, and specific bioassay for assessing relative potency for CGTs, mRNA- and other nucleic acid-based therapies.

Latest Updated Articles