The analysis of protein pharmaceuticals: near future advances

Thermal stability of vaccines

Worldwide vaccination programs against infectious diseases and toxins are estimated to save approximately 3 million lives yearly. Tragically, however, another 3 million individuals (primarily children) die of vaccine-preventable diseases. A significant portion of this problem results from the thermal instability of many of the currently used vaccines. This review argues that modern methods of physical and chemical analysis permit for the first time characterization of the degradative pathways of thermally labile vaccines. A rigorous description of these pathways permit a more rational and systematic approach to the stabilization of vaccines. A direct result of the replacement of currently employed, primarily empirical, approaches to vaccine stabilization with a more molecular-based methodology should be the development of more universally available vaccinations against life-threatening diseases. This has the potential to have a dramatic impact on world health.

Analysis of plasmid DNA from a pharmaceutical perspective

The advent of gene therapy and polynucleotide-based vaccines has resulted in the use of plasmid DNA as a drug substance. Although biologically (cell or animal) based assays must currently be employed to establish the identity and potency of such drugs, we argue that in the future, a combination of microchip-based mutation detection devices combined with an array of chromatographic, electrophoretic, hydrodynamic, and spectroscopic methods can be employed to rigorously establish these properties. We review a variety of such methods in this context and also consider the issue of the chemical stability of plasmids. Extensive comparison is made to protein-based pharmaceuticals with the unique importance of polynucleotide sequence emphasized in comparison to protein tertiary structure.

Macromolecular versus small-molecule therapeutics: drug discovery, development and clinical considerations

Recent advances in biomedical science in general, and molecular biology in particular, have provided a greater understanding of pathogenesis at the molecular and (sub)cellular level. In turn, this has stimulated the development of macromolecular, mechanism-based therapeutic agents, ranging from recombinant proteins, to oligonucleotides, to genes/gene fragments. The factors essential for the successful development of this new class of therapeutic agents are not necessarily the same as those for the development of conventional small organic molecules. This review mentions several issues relating to the development of macromolecular drugs, and emphasizes the key issue of drug transport and delivery.