AB SCIEX and the University of Melbourne announced a joint technology development project to improve drug metabolism studies of biopharmaceuticals. This project is focused on developing a standardized testing methodology based on a breakthrough approach that scientists at the University of Melbourne pioneered on the AB SCIEX QTRAp 5500 System as the life science industry’s first way to follow the fate of the breakdown of protein-based drugs in vivo. This approach could help drug discovery scientists better determine the effectiveness and safety of peptide and protein therapeutic agents that are advanced through regulatory processes and ultimately sold on the consumer market.
Drug discovery scientists currently do not have the ability to follow the fate of the breakdown of protein-based drugs in vivo without knowing what they are ahead of time. Providing this capability is critical for advancing drug metabolism studies of biopharmaceuticals. Scientists at the University of Melbourne invented a new approach using mass spectrometry to do these tests and are partnering with AB SCIEX with the goal of making the new solution available to any scientist conducting these types of studies.
This development project is based on AB SCIEX mass spectrometry technology. The team of developers is customizing the approach for QTRAP technology as well as the AB SCIEX TripleTOF 5600 System. As part of the project, the developers are developing a new workflow and creating specialized software to centrally manage it, giving drug discovery scientists more control.
“Targeting the unknown breakdown products of a biologic without knowing what they are is revolutionary in the biopharmaceutical industry. The technology we are developing with AB SCIEX will give scientists the unique ability to produce metabolism profiles for peptide and protein drugs that the industry simply cannot do right now. This is essential for advancing an increasing number of biopharma drugs to market,” says Anthony Purcell, PhD, associate professor, senior research fellow and a principal investigator at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Date: September 13, 2010
AB SCIEX
