Sevion Therapeutics Establishes Biophysical Characterization Applications Laboratory

Sevion Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with Malvern Instruments to establish a new biopharmaceutical applications laboratory in the heart of San Diego's biotechnology cluster. The new laboratory will enable Sevion Therapeutics and customers of Malvern to use Malvern's range of specialist biophysical characterization systems in a working biopharmaceutical environment.

Equipment to be installed initially will include two microcalorimeters (a MicroCal PEAQ-ITC and a MicroCal VP-Capillary DSC); a Viscotek TDAmax multi-detector size exclusion chromatography system; and a Zetasizer Nano ZSP for the measurement of size, electrophoretic mobility of proteins, zeta potential of nanoparticles and surfaces, and optionally the microrheology of protein and polymer solutions. Further protein characterization technologies from Malvern will be installed at future dates.

"This venture provides a great opportunity for Sevion Therapeutics to access the latest biophysical measurement techniques and to help shape future developments," said Jim Graziano, CTO at Sevion Therapeutics, in a press release. "Malvern will provide extensive training and continuing support to our team…We're especially excited to be adding differential scanning calorimetry to our armory and to being among the first to use the new MicroCal PEAQ-ITC system."

"We work very closely with all parts of the pharmaceutical industry, but the highly dynamic nature of biopharmaceutical development and the rapid pace of change make it imperative that we have a fully functioning applications laboratory in an environment where there is access to real-world protein formulations and where our instruments sit within the workflow of a commercial enterprise," said Paul Davies, global business manager at Malvern Instruments, in the release.

MicroCal PEAQ-ITC is the recently launched, new-generation isothermal titration calorimeter (ITC) from Malvern. ITC has become an essential technique in drug discovery and development, and the new system is designed to deliver the enhanced functionality and robust performance now required. The system offers guided workflows with embedded help videos and advanced data analysis software for generating high quality data within a multi­user environment.

Source: Sevion Therapeutics