Jon S. Kauffman

Profiling of impurities in biopharmaceuticals and their associated intermediates and excipients is a regulatory expectation. Since residuals are typically present at low levels in difficult sample matrices, development and validation of assays can be quite challenging. Due to the range of potential impurities, many different analytical strategies are needed.

A tremendous amount of analytical testing is required to support a biopharmaceutical product from discovery, development, and clinical trials, through manufacturing and marketing. Numerous methods are used to fully characterize large molecules because of their complexity—characterizing them is significantly more difficult than it is for small molecules. Biopharmaceuticals are produced via living systems, i.e., E. coli, yeast, or mammalian cells, which require additional testing matrices.