Scaling Down Large-Scale Thawing of Monoclonal Antibody Solutions: 3D Temperature Profiles, Changes in Concentration, and Density Gradients

Application of Formulation Principles to Stability Issues Encountered During Processing, Manufacturing, and Storage of Drug Substance and Drug Product Protein Therapeutics

The field of formulation and stabilization of protein therapeutics has become rather extensive. However, most of the focus has been on stabilization of the final drug product. Yet, proteins experience stress and degradation through the manufacturing process, starting with fermentaition. This review describes how formulation principles can be applied to stabilize biopharmaceutical proteins during bioprocessing and manufacturing, considering each unit operation involved in prepration of the drug substance. In addition, the impact of the container on stabilty is discussed as well.

An Intra-Company Analysis of Inherent Particles in Biologicals Shapes the Protein Particle Mitigation Strategy Across Development Stages

To better understand protein aggregation and inherent particle formation in the biologics pipeline at Novartis, a cross-functional team collected and analyzed historical protein particle issues. Inherent particle occurrences from the past 10 years were systematically captured in a protein particle database. Where the root cause was identified, a number of product attributes (such as development stage, process step, or protein format) were trended. Several key themes were revealed: 1) there was a higher propensity for inherent particle formation with non-mAbs than with mAbs; 2) the majority of particles were detected following manufacturing at scale, and were not predicted by the small-scale studies; 3) most issues were related to visible particles, followed by subvisible particles; 4) 50% of the issues were manufacturing related. These learnings became the foundation of a particle mitigation strategy across development and technical transfer, and resulted in a set of preventive actions. Overall, this study provides further insight into a recognized industry challenge and hopes to inspire the biopharmaceutical industry to transparently share their experiences with inherent particles formation.

Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations of Temperature, Cryoconcentration, and Stress Time during Large-Scale Freezing and Thawing of Monoclonal Antibody Solutions

PURPOSE

Large-scale freezing and thawing experiments of monoclonal antibody (mAb) solutions are time and material consuming. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modeling of temperature, solute composition as well as the stress time, defined as the time between start of freezing and reaching T_g' at any point in the container, could be a promising approach to ease and speed up process development.

METHODS

Temperature profiles at six positions were recorded during freezing and thawing of a 2L rectangular bottle and compared to CFD simulations via OpenFOAM. Furthermore, cryoconcentration upon freezing and concentration gradients upon thawing of a mAb solution were predicted and the stress time calculated.

RESULTS

Temperature profiles during freezing were accurately matched by the CFD simulation. Thawing time was only 45min to 60 min longer in the model. The macroscopic cryoconcentration of the mAb was also matched by the simulation; only a highly concentrated region in the top and a diluted core in the geometrical centre of the 2 L bottle were not well reflected in the simulation. The concentration gradient after thawing obtained by simulation as well agreed with the experimental result. In addition, CFD simulations allowed to extract the global temperature distribution, the formation of ice, and thus the distribution of stress in the freezing liquid.

CONCLUSION

CFD simulations via OpenFOAM are a promising tool to describe large-scale freezing and thawing of mAb solutions and can help to generate a deeper understanding and to improve testing of the robustness of the processes.

Evaluation of Two Novel Scale-Down Devices for Testing Monoclonal Antibody Aggregation During Large-Scale Freezing

There is a need for representative small volume devices that reflect monoclonal antibody (mAb) aggregation during freezing and thawing (FT) in large containers. We characterised two novel devices that aim to mimic the stress in rectangular 2 L bottles. The first scale-down device (SDD) consists of a 125 mL bottle surrounded by a 3D printed cover that manipulates heat exchange. The second device, a micro scale-down device (mSDD), adapts cooling and heating of 10 mL vials to extend stress time. MAb aggregation upon repeated FT was evaluated considering formation of higher molecular weight species, subvisible particles, and the increase in hydrodynamic radius, polydispersity index, and optical density at 350 nm. Three different mAb solutions were processed. Both an unshielded 125 mL bottle and the SDD can be used to predict aggregation during FT in 2 L bottles. In specific cases the unshielded 125 mL bottle underestimates whereas the SDD slightly overestimates soluble aggregate formation. The mSDD increases aggregation compared to 10 mL vials but is less representative than the SDD. Ultimately, both SDDs enable characterisation of protein sensitivity to large-scale FT with two orders of magnitude less volume and are superior to simply using smaller bottles.