Chad Briscoe

Analysis of drug-protein binding by ultrafast affinity chromatography using immobilized human serum albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) was explored for use as a stationary phase and ligand in affinity microcolumns for the ultrafast extraction of free drug fractions and the use of this information for the analysis of drug-protein binding. Warfarin, imipramine, and ibuprofen were used as model analytes in this study. It was found that greater than 95% extraction of all these drugs could be achieved in as little as 250 ms on HSA microcolumns. The retained drug fraction was then eluted from the same column under isocratic conditions, giving elution in less than 40 s when working at 4.5 mL/min. The chromatographic behavior of this system gave a good fit with that predicted by computer simulations based on a reversible, saturable model for the binding of an injected drug with immobilized HSA. The free fractions measured by this method were found to be comparable to those determined by ultrafiltration, and equilibrium constants estimated by this approach gave good agreement with literature values. Advantages of this method include its speed and the relatively low cost of microcolumns that contain HSA. The ability of HSA to bind many types of drugs also creates the possibility of using the same affinity microcolumn to study and measure the free fractions for a variety of pharmaceutical agents. These properties make this technique appealing for use in drug-binding studies and in the high-throughput screening of new drug candidates.

Factors affecting the stability of drugs and drug metabolites in biological matrices

Evaluation of the stability of drugs and drug metabolites in a biological matrix is a critical element to bioanalytical method validation. It is critical to understand the most common factors that affect the stability of such analytes in order to properly develop methods for their detection and measurement. The degradation of drugs and drug metabolites in samples can occur through either reversible or irreversible processes. Common factors that affect this stability include temperature, light, pH, oxidation and enzymatic degradation. Special considerations are also required when dealing with chiral molecules, deuterated internal standards and large biomolecules. Relevant examples of these degradation effects and approaches for dealing with them are presented is this review as taken from the fields of pharmaceutical testing, clinical research and forensic analysis. It is demonstrated through these examples how an understanding of the chemical and physical factors that affect sample stability can be used to avoid stability problems and to create robust and accurate methods for the analysis of drugs and related compounds.

Formation of a Global Contract Research Organization Council for Bioanalysis

Background Over the last year, the bioanalytical community strongly expressed their need for international harmonization of bioanalytical guidances through numerous international meetings and publications, and this need was acknowledged by several regulatory agencies [1–5]. Following the 4th Calibration and Validation Group (CVG) Workshop on Regulated Bioana lysis hosted in Montreal (April 2010), a unanimous consensus was reached for the global bioanalytical community to identify non-prescriptive, s ciencebased language that could form the basis of a proposed guidance document on bioana lysis [6]. Ideally, such guidance language would describe the rationale behind each bioanalytical requirement and would be presented for consideration by agencies and industry worldwide. A recent concrete action taken towards such global harmonization of bioanalytical guidances was the creation of the Global Bioana lysis Consortium (GBC). Drawing from representatives of scientific associations with involvement in regulated bioana lysis across the globe, the objective of the GBC is to merge existing or emerging bioanalytical guidances and create a unified document that can be presented to the regulatory authorities in various countries and regions. The development of the GBC is currently in process, with the intention to present plans and updates at upcoming bioanalytical meetings and to seek input from the scientists conducting bioana lysis [7]. At the 4th CVG Bioana lysis Workshop in Montreal, Canada, several Contract Research Organizations (CROs) highlighted the importance of having a strong and cohesive CRO contribution to the global harmonization process. Having CROs, academic laboratories and pharma ceutical industries appropriately represented was viewed as critical to identifying optimum language. Consequently, the proposal to build a Global CRO Council (GCC) arose, designed to be a distinct group consisting exclusively of bioanalytical CRO members conducting r egulated bioana lysis business. To initiate creation of the GCC, a special closed forum was held in Montreal on 14 September 2010, where 41 executive representatives from 32 bioanalytical CROs were present to discuss scientific harmonization issues and the institution of the GCC. This first CRO Formation of a Global Contract Research Organization Council for Bioana lysis

2016 White Paper on recent issues in bioanalysis: focus on biomarker assay validation (BAV) (Part 1 – small molecules, peptides and small molecule biomarkers by LCMS)

The 2016 10th Workshop on Recent Issues in Bioanalysis (10th WRIB) took place in Orlando, Florida with participation of close to 700 professionals from pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, contract research organizations, and regulatory agencies worldwide. WRIB was once again a 5-day, weeklong event - A Full Immersion Week of Bioanalysis including Biomarkers and Immunogenicity. As usual, it was specifically designed to facilitate sharing, reviewing, discussing and agreeing on approaches to address the most current issues of interest including both small and large molecule analysis involving LCMS, hybrid LBA/LCMS, and LBA approaches, with the focus on biomarkers and immunogenicity. This 2016 White Paper encompasses recommendations emerging from the extensive discussions held during the workshop, and is aimed to provide the bioanalytical community with key information and practical solutions on topics and issues addressed, in an effort to enable advances in scientific excellence, improved quality and better regulatory compliance. This white paper is published in 3 parts due to length. This part (Part 1) discusses the recommendations for small molecules, peptides and small molecule biomarkers by LCMS. Part 2 (Hybrid LBA/LCMS and regulatory inputs from major global health authorities) and Part 3 (large molecule bioanalysis using LBA, biomarkers and immunogenicity) will be published in the Bioanalysis journal, issue 23.

8th GCC: Consolidated feedback to US FDA on the 2013 Draft FDA Guidance on Bioanalytical Method Validation

The 8th GCC Closed Forum for Bioanalysis was held in Baltimore, MD, USA on 5 December 2013, immediately following the 2013 AAPS Workshop (Crystal City V): Quantitative Bioanalytical Methods Validation and Implementation--The 2013 Revised FDA Guidance. This GCC meeting was organized to discuss the contents of the draft revised FDA Guidance on bioanalytical method validation that was published in September 2013 and consolidate the feedback of the GCC members. In attendance were 63 senior-level participants, from seven countries, representing 46 bioanalytical CRO companies/sites. This event represented a unique opportunity for CRO bioanalytical experts to share their opinions and concerns regarding the draft FDA Guidance, and to build unified comments to be provided to the FDA.

9th GCC closed forum: CAPA in regulated bioanalysis; method robustness, biosimilars, preclinical method validation, endogenous biomarkers, whole blood stability, regulatory audit experiences and electronic laboratory notebooks

The 9th GCCClosed Forum was held just prior to the 2015 Workshop on Recent Issues in Bioanalysis (WRIB) in Miami, FL, USA on 13 April 2015. In attendance were 58 senior-level participants, from eight countries, representing 38 CRO companies offering bioanalytical services. The objective of this meeting was for CRO bioanalytical representatives to meet and discuss scientific and regulatory issues specific to bioanalysis. The issues selected at this years closed forum include CAPA, biosimilars, preclinical method validation, endogenous biomarkers, whole blood stability, and ELNs. A summary of the industrys best practices and the conclusions from the discussion of these topics is included in this meeting report.

Conference Report: Summary of the Eleventh Annual University of Wisconsin Land O’Lakes Bioanalytical Conference

This University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy Bioanalytical Conference is arranged by the Extension Services in Pharmacy, the professional development department within the School. The purpose of this 4 day conference is to provide an educational forum to discuss issues and applications associated with the analysis of xenobiotics, metabolites, biologics and biomarkers in biological matrices. The conference is designed to include and encourage an open exchange of scientific and methodological applications for bioanalysis. To increase the interactive nature of the conference, the program was a mixture of lectures, poster sessions, round-table discussions and workshops. This paper summarizes the presentations at the Eleventh Annual Conference.

The 10th GCC Closed Forum: rejected data, GCP in bioanalysis, extract stability, BAV, processed batch acceptance, matrix stability, critical reagents, ELN and data integrity and counteracting fraud

The 10th Global CRO Council (GCC) Closed Forum was held in Orlando, FL, USA on 18 April 2016. In attendance were decision makers from international CRO member companies offering bioanalytical services. The objective of this meeting was for GCC members to meet and discuss scientific and regulatory issues specific to bioanalysis. The issues discussed at this closed forum included reporting data from failed method validation runs, GCP for clinical sample bioanalysis, extracted sample stability, biomarker assay validation, processed batch acceptance criteria, electronic laboratory notebooks and data integrity, Health Canadas Notice regarding replicates in matrix stability evaluations, critical reagents and regulatory approaches to counteract fraud. In order to obtain the pharma perspectives on some of these topics, the first joint CRO-Pharma Scientific Interchange Meeting was held on 12 November 2016, in Denver, Colorado, USA. The five topics discussed at this Interchange meeting were reporting data from failed method validation runs, GCP for clinical sample bioanalysis, extracted sample stability, processed batch acceptance criteria and electronic laboratory notebooks and data integrity. The conclusions from the discussions of these topics at both meetings are included in this report.

Conference Report: Laboratory and software applications for clinical trials: the global laboratory environment

The Applied Pharmaceutical Software Meeting is held annually. It is sponsored by The Boston Society, a not-for-profit organization that coordinates a series of meetings within the global pharmaceutical industry. The meeting generally focuses on laboratory applications, but in recent years has expanded to include some software applications for clinical trials. The 2011 meeting emphasized the global laboratory environment. Global clinical trials generate massive amounts of data in many locations that must be centralized and processed for efficient analysis. Thus, the meeting had a strong focus on establishing networks and systems for dealing with the computer infrastructure to support such environments. In addition to the globally installed laboratory information management system, electronic laboratory notebook and other traditional laboratory applications, cloud computing is quickly becoming the answer to provide efficient, inexpensive options for managing the large volumes of data and computing power, and thus it served as a central theme for the meeting.

Conference Report: New setting for the Land O’Lakes bioanalytical conference

The University of Wisconsin bioanalytical conference is presented each year by the Extension Services in Pharmacy, the professional development department within the School of Pharmacy. The purpose of this 3-day conference was to provide an educational forum to discuss issues and applications associated with the analysis of xenobiotics, metabolites, biologics and biomarkers in biological matrices. The conference was designed to include and encourage an open exchange of scientific and methodological applications for bioanalysis. To increase the interactive nature of the conference the program was composed of a mixture of lectures, interactive discussions, poster sessions and roundtables. This paper summarizes the presentations at the Fourteenth Annual Conference, offered in a new venue.