An enzymatic deconjugation method for the analysis of small molecule active drugs on antibody-drug conjugates.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are complex therapeutic agents that use the specific targeting properties of antibodies and the highly potent cytotoxicity of small molecule drugs to selectively eliminate tumor cells while limiting the toxicity to normal healthy tissues. Two critical quality attributes of ADCs are the purity and stability of the active small molecule drug linked to the ADC, but these are difficult to assess once the drug is conjugated to the antibody. In this study, we report a enzyme deconjugation approach to cleave small molecule drugs from ADCs, which allows the drugs to be subsequently characterized by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. The model ADC we used in this study utilizes a valine-citrulline linker that is designed to be sensitive to endoproteases after internalization by tumor cells. We screened several proteases to determine the most effective enzyme. Among the 3 cysteine proteases evaluated, papain had the best efficiency in cleaving the small molecule drug from the model ADC. The deconjugation conditions were further optimized to achieve complete cleavage of the small molecule drug. This papain deconjugation approach demonstrated excellent specificity and precision. The purity and stability of the active drug on an ADC drug product was evaluated and the major degradation products of the active drug were identified. The papain deconjugation method was also applied to several other ADCs, with the results suggesting it could be applied generally to ADCs containing a valine-citrulline linker. Our results indicate that the papain deconjugation method is a powerful tool for characterizing the active small molecule drug conjugated to an ADC, and may be useful in ensuring the product quality, efficacy and the safety of ADCs.

Chemical de-conjugation for investigating the stability of small molecule drugs in antibody-drug conjugates.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) offer new therapeutic options for advanced cancer patients through precision killing with fewer side effects. The stability and efficacy of ADCs are closely related, emphasizing the urgency and importance of gaining a comprehensive understanding of ADC stability. In this work, a chemical de-conjugation approach was developed to investigate the in-situ stability of the small molecule drug while it is conjugated to the antibody. This method involves chemical-mediated release of the small molecule drug from the ADC and subsequent characterization of the released small molecule drug by HPLC. The feasibility of this technique was demonstrated utilizing a model ADC containing a disulfide linker that is sensitive to the reducing environment within cancer cells. Five reducing agents were screened for use in de-conjugation; tris(2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP) was selected for further optimization due to its high efficiency and clean impurity profile. The optimized de-conjugation assay was shown to have excellent specificity and precision. More importantly, it was shown to be stability indicating, enabling the identification and quantification of the small molecule drug and its degradation products under different formulation pHs and storage temperatures. In summary, the chemical de-conjugation strategy demonstrated here offers a powerful tool to assess the in-situ stability of small molecule drugs on ADCs and the resulting information will shed light on ADC formulation/process development and storage condition selection.

A size exclusion-reversed phase two dimensional-liquid chromatography methodology for stability and small molecule related species in antibody drug conjugates.

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are complex therapeutic agents combining the specific targeting properties of antibodies and highly potent cytotoxic small molecule drugs to selectively eliminate tumor cells while limiting the toxicity to normal healthy tissues. One unique critical quality attribute of ADCs is the content of unconjugated small molecule drug present from either incomplete conjugation or degradation of the ADC. In this work, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) was coupled with reversed-phase (RP) HPLC in an online 2-dimensional chromatography format for identification and quantitation of unconjugated small molecule drugs and related small molecule impurities in ADC samples directly without sample preparation. The SEC method in the 1st dimension not only separated the small molecule impurities from the intact ADC, but also provided information about the size variants (monomer, dimer, aggregates, etc.) of the ADC. The small molecule peak from the SEC was trapped and sent to a RP-HPLC in the 2nd dimension to further separate and quantify the different small molecule impurities present in the ADC sample. This SEC-RP 2D-LC method demonstrated excellent precision (%RSD<2.0), linearity (r(2)=0.9999), sensitivity (LOQ of 0.05µg/mL of free drug in ADC sample) and accuracy (95-105% recovery of spiked samples). The 2D-LC method was further utilized to study the stability of an ADC drug product at different temperatures and pHs. Both small molecule degradation products and aggregation of the conjugate were observed in the stability samples and the degradation pathways of the ADC were investigated. This 2D-LC method offers a powerful tool for ADC characterization and provides valuable information for conjugation and formulation development.

Quantification of residual solvents in antibody drug conjugates using gas chromatography.

The detection and quantification of residual solvents present in clinical and commercial pharmaceutical products is necessary from both patient safety and regulatory perspectives. Head-space gas chromatography is routinely used for quantitation of residual solvents for small molecule APIs produced through synthetic processes; however residual solvent analysis is generally not needed for protein based pharmaceuticals produced through cultured cell lines where solvents are not introduced. In contrast, antibody drug conjugates and other protein conjugates where a drug or other molecule is covalently bound to a protein typically use solvents such as N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), N,N­dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), or propylene glycol (PG) to dissolve the hydrophobic small molecule drug for conjugation to the protein. The levels of the solvent remaining following the conjugation step are therefore important to patient safety as these parental drug products are introduced directly into the patients bloodstream. We have developed a rapid sample preparation followed by a gas chromatography separation for the detection and quantification of several solvents typically used in these conjugation reactions. This generic method has been validated and can be easily implemented for use in quality control testing for clinical or commercial bioconjugated products.

Determination of trace level genotoxic impurities in small molecule drug substances using conventional headspace gas chromatography with contemporary ionic liquid diluents and electron capture detection.

Ionic liquids (ILs) were used as a new class of diluents for the analysis of two classes of genotoxic impurities (GTIs), namely, alkyl/aryl halides and nitro-aromatics, in small molecule drug substances by headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) coupled with electron capture detection (ECD). This novel approach using ILs as contemporary diluents greatly broadens the applicability of HS-GC for the determination of high boiling (≥ 130°C) analytes including GTIs with limits of detection (LOD) ranging from 5 to 500 parts-per-billion (ppb) of analytes in a drug substance. This represents up to tens of thousands-fold improvement compared to traditional HS-GC diluents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylacetamide (DMAC). Various ILs were screened to determine their suitability as diluents for the HS-GC/ECD analysis. Increasing the HS oven temperatures resulted in varying responses for alkyl/aryl halides and a significant increase in response for all nitroaromatic GTIs. Linear ranges of up to five orders of magnitude were found for a number of analytes. The technique was validated on two active pharmaceutical ingredients with excellent recovery. This simple and robust methodology offers a key advantage in the ease of method transfer from development laboratories to quality control environments since conventional validated chromatographic data systems and GC instruments can be used. For many analytes, it is a cost effective alternative to more complex trace analytical methodologies like LC/MS and GC/MS, and significantly reduces the training needed for operation.

Analysis of pharmaceutical impurities using multi-heartcutting 2D LC coupled with UV-charged aerosol MS detection.

To overcome challenges in HPLC impurity analysis of pharmaceuticals, we developed an automated online multi-heartcutting 2D HPLC system with hyphenated UV-charged aerosol MS detection. The first dimension has a primary column and the second dimension has six orthogonal columns to enhance flexibility and selectivity. The two dimensions were interfaced by a pair of switching valves equipped with six trapping loops that allow multi-heartcutting of peaks of interest in the first dimension and also allow "peak parking." The hyphenated UV-charged aerosol MS detection provides comprehensive detection for compounds with and without UV chromophores, organics, and inorganics. It also provides structural information for impurity identification. A hidden degradation product that co-eluted with the drug main peak was revealed by RP × RP separation and thus enabled the stability-indicating method development. A poorly retained polar component with no UV chromophores was analyzed by RP × hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography separation with charged aerosol detection. Furthermore, using this system, the structures of low-level impurities separated by a method using nonvolatile phosphate buffer were identified and tracked by MS in the second dimension.

Degradation of a pharmaceutical in HPLC grade methanol containing trace level formaldehyde.

An anomalous peak was observed in the HPLC/UV analysis of a developmental drug product. High resolution LC/MS revealed that the mass of this degradant was 12 Da greater than the drug substance, corresponding to a net gain of a single carbon atom. The degradant was reproduced by incubating the drug substance with formaldehyde, followed by isolation using normal phase chromatography and structure elucidation by NMR. It was determined to be an analytical artifact caused by the nucleophilic reaction of the drug substance with trace levels of formaldehyde in the methanol diluent. Typical formaldehyde levels in various grades of methanol were determined, leading to the adoption of spectrophotometric purity solvent to mitigate the recurrence of this artifact. This work demonstrates that even ppm levels of impurities in solvents can cause significant degradation of drug product and the HPLC grade solvents are not always suitable for HPLC analysis in drug product development.

A DNA-conjugated magnetic nanoparticle assay for assessing genotoxicity.

The genotoxicity of a molecule refers to its ability to interact with DNA in a way that inhibits normal DNA replication and transcription possibly leading to mutagenesis or carcinogenesis. Assessing the genotoxicity of a compound is critical in the development of pharmaceuticals and other products designed for human consumption or use. Typically genotoxicity is established using expensive and time consuming methods using animals or bacteria like the Ames test, mouse lymphoma assay, or mouse and rat carcinogenicity tests. We have developed a magnetic nanoparticle-based assay that uses conjugated double-stranded DNA to serve as a substrate for interaction with genotoxic molecules. After application of a magnetic field, the genotoxic molecules are extracted with the DNA-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles. The genotoxic molecules can then be released and detected. To evaluate the potential of this assay, we have screened several genotoxic and non-genotoxic compounds and have demonstrated the ability to extract a genotoxic compound in the presence of a non-genotoxic molecule. The assay demonstrates suitable analytical performance and the ability to differentiate between genotoxic and non-genotoxic molecules providing a rapid and inexpensive alternative to more traditional methods of evaluating genotoxicity.

Strategies for the analysis of highly reactive pinacolboronate esters.

Pinacolboronate esters (or boronic acid, pinacol esters) are widely used in the Suzuki coupling reaction to connect organic building blocks for the total synthesis of complex molecules. The 2-aminopyrimidine-5-pinacolboronate ester was used as a starting material in the synthesis of a development compound, necessitating a chromatographic purity method to assess its quality. This aryl pinacolboronate ester posed unique analytical challenges due to its facile hydrolysis to the corresponding boronic acid, which is nonvolatile and poorly soluble in organic solvents. This made GC and normal-phase HPLC analysis unsuitable. In reversed-phase mode, typical sample preparation and analysis conditions promoted rapid sample degradation to the boronic acid. To overcome these challenges, unconventional approaches were necessary in order to stabilize 2-aminopyrimidine-5-pinacolboronate ester, adequately solubilize its boronic acid, and produce acceptable separation and retention. The final method employed non-aqueous and aprotic diluent, and a reversed-phase separation using highly basic mobile phases (pH 12.4) with an ion pairing reagent. These strategies were successfully applied to several other reactive pinacolboronate esters for purity analysis, demonstrating broad applicability to this unique class of compounds.

Simultaneous determination of positive and negative pharmaceutical counterions using mixed-mode chromatography coupled with charged aerosol detector.

A mixed-mode chromatography coupled with charged aerosol detector (CAD) method was developed in this work to simultaneously determine pharmaceutical counterions including both inorganic ions and organic ions in the forms of cations and anions. 25 commonly used pharmaceutical ions were studied and simultaneously separated within 20 min by this single method. A silica based mixed-mode column with reversed-phase/cation-exchange/anion-exchange modes was used. It provides reversed-phase, strong cation-exchange and weak anion-exchange properties at the same time. It also provides the HILIC behavior at high percentage of organic solvent. The effects of mobile-phase organic strength, buffer ions, ionic strength, pH and column temperature have been investigated to optimize the method as well as to understand the retention and separation mechanisms. Conventional HPLC system was used and no special chromatography system is needed. The presented method has been employed successfully for screening and quantitative analysis of counterions, unknown ionic impurities and salts in active pharmaceutical ingredients and in process control samples with excellent accuracy, precision and sensitivity. This method provides a simple, fast and generic approach to speed up pharmaceutical research and development process and enhance lab efficiency. The similar methodologies can be applied to other ion analysis.