The degradation of polysorbates 20 and 80 and its potential impact on the stability of biotherapeutics.

PURPOSE: To study the potential impact of the degradation of Polysorbates (PS) 20 and 80 on the stability of therapeutic proteins in parenteral formulations. METHOD: First, degradation products of PS20 and 80 were identified. Subsequently, the effect of degraded polysorbate on physical characteristics and long-term stability of protein formulations was assessed. Further, the impact of polysorbate degradation on protein stability was evaluated via shaking stress studies on formulations spiked with artificially degraded polysorbate or degradants like fatty acids. Additionally, aged formulations with reduced polysorbate content were shaken. RESULTS: The degradation of polysorbate leads to a buildup of various molecules, some of which are poorly soluble, including fatty acids and polyoxyethylene (POE) esters of fatty acids. Spiking studies showed that the insoluble degradants could potentially impact protein stability and that the presence of sufficient intact polysorbate was crucial to prevent this. End-of-shelf-life shaking of protein formulations showed that the stability of various monoclonal antibodies was, however, not affected. CONCLUSIONS: Although some degradants can potentially influence the stability of the protein (as discerned from spiking studies), degradation of polysorbates did not impact the stability of the different proteins tested in pharmaceutically relevant temperature and storage conditions.

Equilibrium studies of protein aggregates and homogeneous nucleation in protein formulation.

Shaking or heat stress may induce protein aggregates. Aggregation behavior of an IgG1 stressed by shaking or heat following static storage at 5 and 25 degrees C was investigated to determine whether protein aggregates exist in equilibrium. Aggregates were detected using different analytical methods including visual inspection, turbidity, light obscuration, size exclusion chromatography, and dynamic light scattering. Significant differences were evident between shaken and heated samples upon storage. Visible and subvisible particles (insoluble aggregates), turbidity and z-average diameter decreased whilst soluble aggregate content increased in shaken samples over time. Insoluble aggregates were considered to be reversible and dissociate into soluble aggregates and both aggregate types existed in equilibrium. Heat-induced aggregates had a denatured protein structure and upon static storage, no significant change in insoluble aggregates content was shown, whilst changes in soluble aggregates content occurred. This suggested that heat-induced insoluble aggregates were irreversible and not in equilibrium with soluble aggregates. Additionally, the aggregation behavior of unstressed IgG1 after spiking with heavily aggregated material (shaken or heat stressed) was studied. The aggregation behavior was not significantly altered, independent of the spiking concentration over time. Thus, neither mechanically stressed native nor temperature-induced denatured aggregates were involved in nucleating or propagating aggregation.

Protein aggregation: pathways, induction factors and analysis.

Control and analysis of protein aggregation is an increasing challenge to pharmaceutical research and development. Due to the nature of protein interactions, protein aggregation may occur at various points throughout the lifetime of a protein and may be of different quantity and quality such as size, shape, morphology. It is therefore important to understand the interactions, causes and analyses of such aggregates in order to control protein aggregation to enable successful products. This review gives a short outline of currently discussed pathways and induction methods for protein aggregation and describes currently employed set of analytical techniques and emerging technologies for aggregate detection, characterization and quantification. A major challenge for the analysis of protein aggregates is that no single analytical method exists to cover the entire size range or type of aggregates which may appear. Each analytical method not only shows its specific advantages but also has its limitations. The limits of detection and the possibility of creating artifacts through sample preparation by inducing or destroying aggregates need to be considered with each method used. Therefore, it may also be advisable to carefully compare analytical results of orthogonal methods for similar size ranges to evaluate method performance.

Shaken, not stirred: mechanical stress testing of an IgG1 antibody.

Protein aggregation is known to occur under different stress conditions and displays a wide variety of morphologies. In this work, the aggregation behavior of a monoclonal antibody (IgG1) was investigated using two different mechanical stress methods namely stirring and shaking at two temperatures, various fill volumes and headspaces and different amounts of polysorbate present in the formulation. The detection of aggregates in terms of size and number was carried out using various analytical techniques including visible particle inspection, turbidity, sub-visible particle analysis, size exclusion chromatography and dynamic light scattering. The data showed that shaking and stirring resulted in different species of aggregates both qualitatively and quantitatively, where stirring was found more stressful than shaking on the IgG1 formulation. Mechanical stress testing performed at 5 and 25 degrees C only showed a difference on samples stressed by shaking and not by stirring. The headspace in the vials had great influence on the stability of the protein formulation when stressed by shaking. The presence of polysorbate had a protective effect on the antibody, however certain polysorbate concentrations even resulted in increased protein aggregation. An array of analytical methods was essential in order to cover the vast aggregate morphologies, which occurred during agitation.