BioPharm International, May 2015 Issue (PDF)

BioPharm International sat down with Jean-François Vincent-Rocan, Director of Complex Chemistry Process Development at BIOVECTRA, to discuss antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing. Due to their complex manufacture and supply chain management, JF emphasizes the need for a company that greatly understands the challenges and offers solutions that maintain quality and reliability. He also mentions what advancements are to come in this field and how best to stay ahead of a rapidly growing treatment option.

In this episode, we explore BIOVECTRA’s capabilities in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing, from complex conjugation chemistry to synthesis of highly potent payloads. We’ll also showcase how BIOVECTRA’s extensive experience in complex chemistries and specialized small molecule manufacturing gives them a unique perspective, strengthening their approach to ADC production and ensuring clients receive custom solutions across all project stages.

Using Orexo’s powder-based drug delivery technology, the companies will develop mucosal vaccines in an inhaled formulation.

Metabolic Flux Analysis (MFA) is a powerful technique used to characterize metabolic phenotype driving to improved productivity in biomanufacturing. MFA is most powerful when absolute concentrations of the metabolic intermediates are measured, but doing so in practice is often impractical due to inherent limitations of conventional absolute quantitation by mass spectral analysis. Recently, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have been applied to solving the problem of broad, untargeted, absolute quantitation in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These new approaches extend readily to the determination of absolute concentrations of stable isotopically-labeled metabolic intermediates, offering a new tool for MFA. Dr Sam Yenne from Metalytics Inc., a company that specializes in the science of metabolic flux, has recently assessed and adopted Pyxis, a new tool for absolute quantitation of raw LC-MS data. Dr Yenne describes MFA, its utility in biopharmaceutical development, associated challenges and how Pyxis impacts those challenges.

This article looks at how the MAPPs assay works, how it integrates with other immunogenicity assays, and just how it can be flipped to help in vaccine design.

EMA's committee gave recommendations for marketing authorization of 17 drugs in December, which include therapies for rare heart conditions, anemia, and liver disease.