title: Application of miniaturized immunoassays to discovery pharmacokinetic bioanalysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pharmacokinetic properties of biotherapeutics are an important aspect of preclinical drug development. The lead identification and optimization space is characterized by aggressive timelines, large sample numbers, a variety of species and matrices, and limited reagent and sample volumes all of which represent challenges for traditional microtiter plate assays. Since the Gyrolab immunoassay platform can accommodate small sample volumes and automated assay processing, we evaluated the workstation as an alternative to the plate-based assays.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three representative example assays--a generic anti-human IgG, a target specific and an anti-drug capture assay--were investigated in detail for accuracy and precision performance and their application to bioanalytical support for preclinical pharmacokinetic studies. Different animal matrices were tested in the assays and during study support.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Gyrolab procedures could be closely modeled after regular microtiter plate assays. The small reagent volumes necessary for Gyrolab allowed studying serial bleeds of transgenic mice with only 10μL of blood sample. During development and during study support, the Gyrolab performance was similar to what can be expected from plate-based systems with accuracy and precision within 100 ± 20% or less.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the technology was well suited to support quantitation of biotherapeutics using small volume samples from different preclinical species. Limited operator involvement for assay processing allowed for reduced staffing and training. However, high instrument costs and a single source of reagent supplies represent risks when moving assays further into long-term applications such as clinical studies. Despite interest in the bioanalytical field, this is the first detailed investigation of bioanalytical applications of Gyrolab in pharmacokinetic studies.
authors.affiliation: Merck & Co., Inc., 770 Sumneytown Pike, P.O. Box 4, West Point, PA, 19486, USA. Jeanette.roman@merck.com
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Geethanjali
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dornadula
authors.forename: Lora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamuro
authors.forename: Ray
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bakhtiar
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Verch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D001702:Biopharmaceutics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008904:Miniaturization; D010599:Pharmacokinetics; D051381:Rats; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha