A new mathematical model describes how highly concentrated antibody solutions separate into different phases, similar to an oil and water mixture. This separation can reduce the stability and shelf-life of some drugs that use monoclonal antibodies, including some used to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer. A team of scientists from Penn State and MedImmune, LLC (now AstraZeneca) investigated the thermodynamics and kinetics, the relationships between temperature, energy, and the rates of chemical reactions, of the phenomenon using an innovative method that allows for the rapid study of multiple samples at once. A paper describing their model appears July 22, 2019, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Source: Phys.org