Several important classes of drugs are inherently unstable in biological fluids. Examples include alkylating agents, cytostatic nucleosides, drugs with ester, aldehyde, thiol, nitroxyl or lactone functional groups, and small molecule compounds with unstable metabolites, such as acylglucuronides. The rate at which an analyte degrades in blood, other biological fluids, or…

Designing a tissue assay in accordance to the FDA bioanalytical method validation (BMV) guidance involves three key questions. First, can control tissue be easily obtained in bulk quantities or should a surrogate tissue approach be considered? Second, what sample processing procedures should be considered relative to the known stability of…

In pursuit of KCAS’ Mission to provide reliable and defendable data, quality is one of our core values. It is the responsibility of every employee to provide an always improving, high-level performance in all we do. Our independent Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) assures management that Operations is performing in conformance…

Immunogenicity, why do we keep talking about it?  Immunogenicity can, in the simplest of terms, be described as a subject’s ability to generate antibodies specific to the dosed protein therapeutic.  While stating it this way understates the complexity of the immune system and the methods needed to detect and characterize…

Surprisingly, there are a number of drug development companies that do not obtain stable isotope-labeled internal standards (SIL-IS) for their bioanalytical methods. Instead they settle for using a surrogate internal standard (a compound that closely resembles the measured analyte) which can lead to unreliable data and be detrimental to a…

Like the old adage, “you get out of it what you put into it,” good study design is a prerequisite of good data. To boost the chances of generating accurate and informative facts over the course of a study, it is key to consider all of the supporting parameters that…

There is regulatory requirement that the cumulative time a frozen pharmacokinetic sample has been thawed – from the time it’s removed from the freezer to the time it’s returned – be documented. Freeze/thaw cycle data is not deemed sufficient alone, since a study sample might have been thawed for extended…

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued long awaited, comprehensive update on how medical research should be conducted. The Common Rule, 45 CFR 46 subpart A, issued 26 years ago and established basic protections for human subjects in research conducted by or supported by the HHS and…

In today’s drug development arena, massive, multinational CROs dominate the industry. They offer a “one stop shop” suite of services covering Early Development to Phase IV Clinical Trials and everything in between. Although multinational…