CA2028848A1 - Lyophilized peptide formulations - Google Patents
Lyophilized peptide formulationsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2028848A1 CA2028848A1 CA002028848A CA2028848A CA2028848A1 CA 2028848 A1 CA2028848 A1 CA 2028848A1 CA 002028848 A CA002028848 A CA 002028848A CA 2028848 A CA2028848 A CA 2028848A CA 2028848 A1 CA2028848 A1 CA 2028848A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- peptide
- raffinose
- amino acid
- lyophilized
- lyophilization
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
- A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
- A61K47/06—Organic compounds, e.g. natural or synthetic hydrocarbons, polyolefins, mineral oil, petrolatum or ozokerite
- A61K47/16—Organic compounds, e.g. natural or synthetic hydrocarbons, polyolefins, mineral oil, petrolatum or ozokerite containing nitrogen, e.g. nitro-, nitroso-, azo-compounds, nitriles, cyanates
- A61K47/18—Amines; Amides; Ureas; Quaternary ammonium compounds; Amino acids; Oligopeptides having up to five amino acids
- A61K47/183—Amino acids, e.g. glycine, EDTA or aspartame
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
- A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
- A61K47/06—Organic compounds, e.g. natural or synthetic hydrocarbons, polyolefins, mineral oil, petrolatum or ozokerite
- A61K47/26—Carbohydrates, e.g. sugar alcohols, amino sugars, nucleic acids, mono-, di- or oligo-saccharides; Derivatives thereof, e.g. polysorbates, sorbitan fatty acid esters or glycyrrhizin
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
- A61K47/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by the non-active ingredients used, e.g. carriers or inert additives; Targeting or modifying agents chemically bound to the active ingredient
- A61K47/30—Macromolecular organic or inorganic compounds, e.g. inorganic polyphosphates
- A61K47/42—Proteins; Polypeptides; Degradation products thereof; Derivatives thereof, e.g. albumin, gelatin or zein
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
- A61K9/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by special physical form
- A61K9/0012—Galenical forms characterised by the site of application
- A61K9/0019—Injectable compositions; Intramuscular, intravenous, arterial, subcutaneous administration; Compositions to be administered through the skin in an invasive manner
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
- A61K9/00—Medicinal preparations characterised by special physical form
- A61K9/14—Particulate form, e.g. powders, Processes for size reducing of pure drugs or the resulting products, Pure drug nanoparticles
- A61K9/19—Particulate form, e.g. powders, Processes for size reducing of pure drugs or the resulting products, Pure drug nanoparticles lyophilised, i.e. freeze-dried, solutions or dispersions
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present invention provides a method for stabilizing lyophilized clinical quantities of pharmacologically desirable peptides.
The present invention provides a method for stabilizing lyophilized clinical quantities of pharmacologically desirable peptides.
Description
202~8 -IRIP~37 LYOPHILIZED PEPTIDE FORMULATIONS
The present invention relates to formulations for lyophilized preparations of peptides in a stable form for therapeutic administration. More particularly, the invention relates to a formulation for lyophilizing thymopentin in stable dosage forms.
8ack~round of the Invention Many peptides, particularly peptides from about three to about 20 amino acids in length, are unstable during lyophilization and therefore cannot be prepared in the lyophilized form which is usually suitable for maintaining activity for injectable clinical dosages.
Many small peptides lose biological activity during lyophilization. This characteristic loss of activlty in small peptides may be due to the loss of water of crystallization that occurs during the lyophilization process, resulting in peptides that fold improperly.
Because large peptides have a larger number of chemical bonds to retain proper configuration, such activity loss with lyophiliæation does not occur as frequently.
However, there also exist a number of larger peptides or polypeptides which experience loss of activity upon . :
~ ' ~ - 2~8~8 lyophilization, including, e.g., epidermal growth hormones of approximately 191 amino acids in length.
One example of a peptide which experiences such activity loss is thymopentin, a pentapeptide of proven pharmacological use and significance. See, U. S. Patent 4,190,646 and Goldstein, G. Nature (London) 247~ 14 (1974); Basch, R.S. and Goldstein, G., Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. U.S.A., 71: 1474-1478 (1974); Scheid, M.P. et al, J.
Exp. Med., 147: 1727-1743 (1978); Scheid, M.P. et al, Science, 190: 1211-1213 (1975): Ranges, G.E. et al, J.
Exp. Med., 156: 1057-1064 (1982); T. Audhya et al., Biochem, 20: 6195-6200 (1981); Venkatasubramanian~ K. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 83: 3171-3:L74 (1986);
Malaise M.G. et al, in "Immunoregulatory UCLA Symposium on Molecular and Cellular Biology'i, eds. Goldstein, G., et al (Liss, New Yor~) (1986); Sunshine, G.H. et al, J.
Immunol., 120: 1594-1599 (1978) and E. Rentz et al, ~rch.
Geschwulstforsch, 54(2): 113-118 (1948). See also U.S.
Patents 4,261,886; 4,361,673; 4,420,424; and 4,629,723.
Re~erence is made to the above-described patents, applications and articles for their discussions of thymopentin.
Lyophilized preparations of clinical (ampule) quantities of thymopentin have been fre~uently found to be biologically inactive. This loss of activity is noted .
0 2 ~
in bulk prepara-tions only in a small percentage of the peptide composition located on the surface of the dry preparations.
Such activity loss may efi-ect the therapeutic treatment of a patient requiring a particular pharmacologically active peptide. A loss of activity in the dosage unit will result in too little active peptide being delivered to the patient in the normal dosage unit.
Thus, the appropriately effective dose of the peptide will not be given to the patient. If the activity loss is less than complete, such a variable loss wiil render it impossible for a practical pharmaceutical dosage to be accurately determined. Simply raising the dosage level of the peptide to compensate for this loss is not practical because the degree of loss would be unknown and excess dosages of most pharmaceuticals carry an increased risk of serious side effects. Such inefficient methods to compensate for activity loss of the peptide will also increase the cost of the pharmaceutical in question.
Therefore a need exists in the art for methods of preparing therapeutic peptides in a manner which will retain the biological activity of clinical quantities thereof.
-' 2~8~8 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As one aspect, the present invention provides a method for preparing clinical quantities of therapeutically active peptides in a stable lyophilized form.
As another aspect of the present invention is provided a stable lyophilized preparation of a peptide produced by the method of the invention. As one preferred embodiment, the invention provides a sta~le lyophilized preparation of thymopentin. This stable preparation is prepared by the method of this invention.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention are described further in the ~ollowing detailed description of the present invention~
DETAILE:D DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for stabilizing lyophilized clinical quantities of pharmacologically desirable peptides. Any peptide may be prepared by this method. However, the method has been found to be o~ particular benefit in the preparation of small peptides of from about 3 to about 20 amino acids in length which experience a biological activity loss in conventional dosage units.
~: :: .. : . ~ - . :
~ 20~8~
Larger peptides which also exhibit activity loss upon lyophilization may also be prepared according to this method. An example of such a larger peptide which experiences this biological activity loss is epidermal growth factor, which is approximately 191 amino acids in length.
According to the method of the present invention, a selected peptide is prepared in a high solubility buffering salt. By "high solubility" is meant 19 a buffering salt having a solubility greater than one gram/ml in water. In general the buffering salt is characterized by a solubility higher than that of an inorganic molecule such as sodium phosphate. Because the buffering sa].t is for use in preparing a therapeutic product, desirably for use in humans, the high solubility buffering salt for use in the present invention must be non-toxic and capable of safe use in humans. Although a number of buffering salts which meet both qualifications of high solubility and safety in humans may be selected by one of skill in the art, a preferred buffering salt according to this invention is citrate buffer.
It was surprisingly discovered that low solubility buffering salts, such as acetate or phosphate ~ buffers, are not useful in this me=hod for stabilizing : ., .:..
, . .
~ 2~128~8 ' peptides undergoing lyophilization. While the present invention is not bound by theory, it is speculated that the low solubility buffering salts ordinarily used to lyophilize peptides cause the separation of the salt from the solution at low temperatures essential for lyophilization.
Additionally, according to the present invention the buffered peptide, if a small peptide between about 5 to 20 amino acid in length, should be prepared at an appropriately controlled pH. Desirably for these small peptides, like thymopentin, the pH should be in the range of from about 6.5 to about 7.2. The pH
may be adjusted with appropriate acids and hases, which are physiologically safe ~or humans. For example, an appropriate base for such pH adjustments is sodium hydroxide. An acid such as hydrochloric acid may also be employed for pH adjustment during this method. For larger peptides this range of pH values is not generally required.
When lyophilization is performed on the buffered peptide according to this method, a carrier is required for the peptide. The inventors have surprisingly discovered that many conventionally employed 2 ~
carriers for lyophilization processes do not contribute to the stabilization of lyophilized preparations of peptides. For example, conventionally employed sugar carriers appear to be ineffective when used to stabilize thymopentin in this process. For example, glycerol, polyethyleneglycol, lactose, sucrose, glucose, mannitol, glycine and raffinose, all used individually as carriers proved ineffective. Additionally, various combinations of asparagine, glucine and lysine were also unexpectedly inadequate as carriers for this process.
Thus, in the practice of this invention, a preferred carrier which facilitatecl stabilization of the peptide during lyophilization is a combination of 0.5 to 2% glycine and 1 to 6% raffinose. The ra~finose sugar is ~5 generally present in the form of D-raffinose pentahydrate. Other amino acids, particularly arginine, lysine, aspartic acid or glutamic acid, may also be used in place of glycine for combination with D-raffinose to provide effective carriers for use in this invention.
Preferably the ratio of the amino acid to the raffinose is about 1:2. This ratio may vary based on the pH of the solution and the concentration of peptide and buffering salt employed. A presently most preferred carrier, as illustrated in the examples below is 1% glycine and 2%
raffinose in a ratio of 1:2.
' .' . " ," ' '' ' ' ;'' ' ' ' ' ' ~' ' '' '.'' "' ' , "' '" ' .' ' '. ~' . " .''','' ' "' ". ' " '" ', '" '""', " '~' ` "' " ' ', ' -_~ 2~8~
;... Z
Another effective carrier useful in this method is 1~ human serum albumin. However, it is not preferred due to possible contaminants, e.g., viruses, which may be present in serum-derived components.
In this method of the present invention for providing lyophilized peptides having a stable biological activity, the lyophilization procedures must be strictly controlled. Prior to lyophilization, the peptide solution must be frozen at a temperature which avoids the formation of ice crystals which disrupt the peptide bonds. The freezing temperature depends on the size of the peptide. For smaller peptides under about 20 amino acids, the freezing temperature may be as low as -60C.
For larger peptides of greater than 20 amino acids in length, the freezing temperature should be no lower than about -30C. This temperature is applied for a ~ime sufficient to freeze the batch sizé of the peptide composition. Generally, for example, a batch size of 1500 liters is frozen for up to about 8 to lO hours.
The temperature of lyophilization is also critical to the per~ormance of this process. The lyophilization temperature must not exceed about 22C.
Preferably the temperature range of lyophilization is between 5C to 22C. The vacuum conditions employed in the lyophilization process should range between 40 2 1~
millibar to 80 millibar. A preferred vacuum pressure for the preparation of small peptides like thymopentin is about 60 millibars. No excess heat or vacuum is desirable in obtaining a resulting stabilized product.
These lyophilization conditions are generally applied for a duration of 18 hours or less, depending on the batch size being lyophilized, until the peptide composition being lyophilized according to the method of the present invention reaches a moisture content of less than 6%. A preferred moisture content range for the product of the lyophilization procedure is between 3% to 6~. The moisture content of the peptide preparation is easily determined by means of the conventional Karl-Fischer test.
The lyophilization process of the present "
invention is appropriate for use in preparing dosage forms of a variety of therapeutic peptides, including, but not limited to, thymopentin, thymoralin, growth hormone, encephalin and tumor necrosis factor. The selection of and size of the peptide undergoing this method of preparation and stabilization is not critical to this invention. Therefore this method i5 not limited to the particular peptide, but is qenerally useful in overcoming biological instability of any peptide or ` .
' -~` 2~2~8~8 _ protein which loses biological activity upon lyophilization.
The following examples illustrate the method of preparing a stable lyophilized peptide formulation of an exemplary peptide, e.g. thymopentin. These examples are illustrative only and do not limit the scope of the present invention.
EXAMPLE
To prepare a thymopentin formulation according to the present invention, the following ingredients are combined in a batch size of 20 liters: lOOO.Og (50.0mg/ml) thymopentin adjusted for peptide content;
200.0g tlO.Omg/ml, 1%) glycine (USP); 400.0 g (20.0mg/ml, 2~) D-raffinose pentahydrate; 176.0 g ~8.8mg/ml~ sodium citrate (2H2O, USP); and approximately 15 liters of water for injection tUSP or Ph. Eur.).
The peptide composition after lyophilization will be placed in ampules with a fill volume o~ 1.3 ml per ampule.
The process for preparing the formulation using the above ingredients is as follows. Approximately 15 liters of water for injectlon is introduced into a suitable stainless steel or glass vessel. The 200 g of glycine is added and stirred at maximum speed until :' 21D28~
dissolved. Stirring is continued rapidly while the 400 g of raffinose is added to the mixture. The glycine to raffinose ratio is 1:2.
The ~.76.0 g sodium citrate (2H2O) is then added and the resulting mixture stirred rapidly until the solution is clear. The appropriate quantity of thymopentin, approximately 1.163 grams, adjusted for peptide content is added, while slow stirring is continued to prevent foaming until all thymopentin is dissolved and the solution is clear.
The pH of the resulting solution is checked and adjusted to pH 7.0-7.2 utilizing lN NaOH. If necessary, the pH may be further adjusted with lN HCl.
Additional water for injection is added to make a volume of 20 liters. The mixture is stirred until completely mixed. The solution is pre-~iltered utilizing a Millipore AP 15 molecular sieve (or equivalent filter which has been soaked in water for injection) to remove any bacterial contaminants, dust or other insoluble materials from the solution. Thereafter the pre-filtered mixture is filtered again through a sterile Durapore 0.22 micron filter.
2~2~8 The resulting thymopentin solution is placed into the ampules (1.3 ml fill volume~. After fill, the thymopentin compositions are frozen ln the ampules to a temperature of approximately -60C for approximately 8 to lo hours. The ampules are then placed in a conventional lyophilizer for up to 18 hours with t:he conditions for lyophilization set for 22C and 60 millibars.
The resulting ampules contain stable lyophilized thymopentin, which demonstrates ~ull biological activity in conventional thymopentin assays.
Such assays are known to one of skill in the art and are disclosed in the U. S. patents and other references on thymopentin cited above.
Numerous modifications and variations o~ the present invention are included in the above-identified speci~ication and are expected to be obvious to one of s~ill in the art. Such modifications and alterations to the compositions and processes of the present invention are believed to be encompassed in the scope of the claims appended hereto.
:, ' , .' ~ .
The present invention relates to formulations for lyophilized preparations of peptides in a stable form for therapeutic administration. More particularly, the invention relates to a formulation for lyophilizing thymopentin in stable dosage forms.
8ack~round of the Invention Many peptides, particularly peptides from about three to about 20 amino acids in length, are unstable during lyophilization and therefore cannot be prepared in the lyophilized form which is usually suitable for maintaining activity for injectable clinical dosages.
Many small peptides lose biological activity during lyophilization. This characteristic loss of activlty in small peptides may be due to the loss of water of crystallization that occurs during the lyophilization process, resulting in peptides that fold improperly.
Because large peptides have a larger number of chemical bonds to retain proper configuration, such activity loss with lyophiliæation does not occur as frequently.
However, there also exist a number of larger peptides or polypeptides which experience loss of activity upon . :
~ ' ~ - 2~8~8 lyophilization, including, e.g., epidermal growth hormones of approximately 191 amino acids in length.
One example of a peptide which experiences such activity loss is thymopentin, a pentapeptide of proven pharmacological use and significance. See, U. S. Patent 4,190,646 and Goldstein, G. Nature (London) 247~ 14 (1974); Basch, R.S. and Goldstein, G., Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. U.S.A., 71: 1474-1478 (1974); Scheid, M.P. et al, J.
Exp. Med., 147: 1727-1743 (1978); Scheid, M.P. et al, Science, 190: 1211-1213 (1975): Ranges, G.E. et al, J.
Exp. Med., 156: 1057-1064 (1982); T. Audhya et al., Biochem, 20: 6195-6200 (1981); Venkatasubramanian~ K. et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 83: 3171-3:L74 (1986);
Malaise M.G. et al, in "Immunoregulatory UCLA Symposium on Molecular and Cellular Biology'i, eds. Goldstein, G., et al (Liss, New Yor~) (1986); Sunshine, G.H. et al, J.
Immunol., 120: 1594-1599 (1978) and E. Rentz et al, ~rch.
Geschwulstforsch, 54(2): 113-118 (1948). See also U.S.
Patents 4,261,886; 4,361,673; 4,420,424; and 4,629,723.
Re~erence is made to the above-described patents, applications and articles for their discussions of thymopentin.
Lyophilized preparations of clinical (ampule) quantities of thymopentin have been fre~uently found to be biologically inactive. This loss of activity is noted .
0 2 ~
in bulk prepara-tions only in a small percentage of the peptide composition located on the surface of the dry preparations.
Such activity loss may efi-ect the therapeutic treatment of a patient requiring a particular pharmacologically active peptide. A loss of activity in the dosage unit will result in too little active peptide being delivered to the patient in the normal dosage unit.
Thus, the appropriately effective dose of the peptide will not be given to the patient. If the activity loss is less than complete, such a variable loss wiil render it impossible for a practical pharmaceutical dosage to be accurately determined. Simply raising the dosage level of the peptide to compensate for this loss is not practical because the degree of loss would be unknown and excess dosages of most pharmaceuticals carry an increased risk of serious side effects. Such inefficient methods to compensate for activity loss of the peptide will also increase the cost of the pharmaceutical in question.
Therefore a need exists in the art for methods of preparing therapeutic peptides in a manner which will retain the biological activity of clinical quantities thereof.
-' 2~8~8 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As one aspect, the present invention provides a method for preparing clinical quantities of therapeutically active peptides in a stable lyophilized form.
As another aspect of the present invention is provided a stable lyophilized preparation of a peptide produced by the method of the invention. As one preferred embodiment, the invention provides a sta~le lyophilized preparation of thymopentin. This stable preparation is prepared by the method of this invention.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention are described further in the ~ollowing detailed description of the present invention~
DETAILE:D DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for stabilizing lyophilized clinical quantities of pharmacologically desirable peptides. Any peptide may be prepared by this method. However, the method has been found to be o~ particular benefit in the preparation of small peptides of from about 3 to about 20 amino acids in length which experience a biological activity loss in conventional dosage units.
~: :: .. : . ~ - . :
~ 20~8~
Larger peptides which also exhibit activity loss upon lyophilization may also be prepared according to this method. An example of such a larger peptide which experiences this biological activity loss is epidermal growth factor, which is approximately 191 amino acids in length.
According to the method of the present invention, a selected peptide is prepared in a high solubility buffering salt. By "high solubility" is meant 19 a buffering salt having a solubility greater than one gram/ml in water. In general the buffering salt is characterized by a solubility higher than that of an inorganic molecule such as sodium phosphate. Because the buffering sa].t is for use in preparing a therapeutic product, desirably for use in humans, the high solubility buffering salt for use in the present invention must be non-toxic and capable of safe use in humans. Although a number of buffering salts which meet both qualifications of high solubility and safety in humans may be selected by one of skill in the art, a preferred buffering salt according to this invention is citrate buffer.
It was surprisingly discovered that low solubility buffering salts, such as acetate or phosphate ~ buffers, are not useful in this me=hod for stabilizing : ., .:..
, . .
~ 2~128~8 ' peptides undergoing lyophilization. While the present invention is not bound by theory, it is speculated that the low solubility buffering salts ordinarily used to lyophilize peptides cause the separation of the salt from the solution at low temperatures essential for lyophilization.
Additionally, according to the present invention the buffered peptide, if a small peptide between about 5 to 20 amino acid in length, should be prepared at an appropriately controlled pH. Desirably for these small peptides, like thymopentin, the pH should be in the range of from about 6.5 to about 7.2. The pH
may be adjusted with appropriate acids and hases, which are physiologically safe ~or humans. For example, an appropriate base for such pH adjustments is sodium hydroxide. An acid such as hydrochloric acid may also be employed for pH adjustment during this method. For larger peptides this range of pH values is not generally required.
When lyophilization is performed on the buffered peptide according to this method, a carrier is required for the peptide. The inventors have surprisingly discovered that many conventionally employed 2 ~
carriers for lyophilization processes do not contribute to the stabilization of lyophilized preparations of peptides. For example, conventionally employed sugar carriers appear to be ineffective when used to stabilize thymopentin in this process. For example, glycerol, polyethyleneglycol, lactose, sucrose, glucose, mannitol, glycine and raffinose, all used individually as carriers proved ineffective. Additionally, various combinations of asparagine, glucine and lysine were also unexpectedly inadequate as carriers for this process.
Thus, in the practice of this invention, a preferred carrier which facilitatecl stabilization of the peptide during lyophilization is a combination of 0.5 to 2% glycine and 1 to 6% raffinose. The ra~finose sugar is ~5 generally present in the form of D-raffinose pentahydrate. Other amino acids, particularly arginine, lysine, aspartic acid or glutamic acid, may also be used in place of glycine for combination with D-raffinose to provide effective carriers for use in this invention.
Preferably the ratio of the amino acid to the raffinose is about 1:2. This ratio may vary based on the pH of the solution and the concentration of peptide and buffering salt employed. A presently most preferred carrier, as illustrated in the examples below is 1% glycine and 2%
raffinose in a ratio of 1:2.
' .' . " ," ' '' ' ' ;'' ' ' ' ' ' ~' ' '' '.'' "' ' , "' '" ' .' ' '. ~' . " .''','' ' "' ". ' " '" ', '" '""', " '~' ` "' " ' ', ' -_~ 2~8~
;... Z
Another effective carrier useful in this method is 1~ human serum albumin. However, it is not preferred due to possible contaminants, e.g., viruses, which may be present in serum-derived components.
In this method of the present invention for providing lyophilized peptides having a stable biological activity, the lyophilization procedures must be strictly controlled. Prior to lyophilization, the peptide solution must be frozen at a temperature which avoids the formation of ice crystals which disrupt the peptide bonds. The freezing temperature depends on the size of the peptide. For smaller peptides under about 20 amino acids, the freezing temperature may be as low as -60C.
For larger peptides of greater than 20 amino acids in length, the freezing temperature should be no lower than about -30C. This temperature is applied for a ~ime sufficient to freeze the batch sizé of the peptide composition. Generally, for example, a batch size of 1500 liters is frozen for up to about 8 to lO hours.
The temperature of lyophilization is also critical to the per~ormance of this process. The lyophilization temperature must not exceed about 22C.
Preferably the temperature range of lyophilization is between 5C to 22C. The vacuum conditions employed in the lyophilization process should range between 40 2 1~
millibar to 80 millibar. A preferred vacuum pressure for the preparation of small peptides like thymopentin is about 60 millibars. No excess heat or vacuum is desirable in obtaining a resulting stabilized product.
These lyophilization conditions are generally applied for a duration of 18 hours or less, depending on the batch size being lyophilized, until the peptide composition being lyophilized according to the method of the present invention reaches a moisture content of less than 6%. A preferred moisture content range for the product of the lyophilization procedure is between 3% to 6~. The moisture content of the peptide preparation is easily determined by means of the conventional Karl-Fischer test.
The lyophilization process of the present "
invention is appropriate for use in preparing dosage forms of a variety of therapeutic peptides, including, but not limited to, thymopentin, thymoralin, growth hormone, encephalin and tumor necrosis factor. The selection of and size of the peptide undergoing this method of preparation and stabilization is not critical to this invention. Therefore this method i5 not limited to the particular peptide, but is qenerally useful in overcoming biological instability of any peptide or ` .
' -~` 2~2~8~8 _ protein which loses biological activity upon lyophilization.
The following examples illustrate the method of preparing a stable lyophilized peptide formulation of an exemplary peptide, e.g. thymopentin. These examples are illustrative only and do not limit the scope of the present invention.
EXAMPLE
To prepare a thymopentin formulation according to the present invention, the following ingredients are combined in a batch size of 20 liters: lOOO.Og (50.0mg/ml) thymopentin adjusted for peptide content;
200.0g tlO.Omg/ml, 1%) glycine (USP); 400.0 g (20.0mg/ml, 2~) D-raffinose pentahydrate; 176.0 g ~8.8mg/ml~ sodium citrate (2H2O, USP); and approximately 15 liters of water for injection tUSP or Ph. Eur.).
The peptide composition after lyophilization will be placed in ampules with a fill volume o~ 1.3 ml per ampule.
The process for preparing the formulation using the above ingredients is as follows. Approximately 15 liters of water for injectlon is introduced into a suitable stainless steel or glass vessel. The 200 g of glycine is added and stirred at maximum speed until :' 21D28~
dissolved. Stirring is continued rapidly while the 400 g of raffinose is added to the mixture. The glycine to raffinose ratio is 1:2.
The ~.76.0 g sodium citrate (2H2O) is then added and the resulting mixture stirred rapidly until the solution is clear. The appropriate quantity of thymopentin, approximately 1.163 grams, adjusted for peptide content is added, while slow stirring is continued to prevent foaming until all thymopentin is dissolved and the solution is clear.
The pH of the resulting solution is checked and adjusted to pH 7.0-7.2 utilizing lN NaOH. If necessary, the pH may be further adjusted with lN HCl.
Additional water for injection is added to make a volume of 20 liters. The mixture is stirred until completely mixed. The solution is pre-~iltered utilizing a Millipore AP 15 molecular sieve (or equivalent filter which has been soaked in water for injection) to remove any bacterial contaminants, dust or other insoluble materials from the solution. Thereafter the pre-filtered mixture is filtered again through a sterile Durapore 0.22 micron filter.
2~2~8 The resulting thymopentin solution is placed into the ampules (1.3 ml fill volume~. After fill, the thymopentin compositions are frozen ln the ampules to a temperature of approximately -60C for approximately 8 to lo hours. The ampules are then placed in a conventional lyophilizer for up to 18 hours with t:he conditions for lyophilization set for 22C and 60 millibars.
The resulting ampules contain stable lyophilized thymopentin, which demonstrates ~ull biological activity in conventional thymopentin assays.
Such assays are known to one of skill in the art and are disclosed in the U. S. patents and other references on thymopentin cited above.
Numerous modifications and variations o~ the present invention are included in the above-identified speci~ication and are expected to be obvious to one of s~ill in the art. Such modifications and alterations to the compositions and processes of the present invention are believed to be encompassed in the scope of the claims appended hereto.
:, ' , .' ~ .
Claims (14)
1. A method for producing a stable lyophilized peptide comprising mixing said peptide with a physiologically acceptable high solubility buffering salt and a suitable carrier selected from the group consisting of human serum albumin and the combination of raffinose and an amino acid; freezing the resulting peptide composition at a temperature sufficient to avoid the formation of ice crystals; and lyophilizing said peptide composition under the conditions of a temperature no greater than 22° C and a vacuum between 40 to 80 millibars for a time sufficient to retain in said composition a moisture content of no greater than 6%.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said suitable carrier is a mixture of 0.5 - 2% by weight of an amino acid selected from the group consisting of glycine, arginine, lysine, aspartic acid or glutamic acid and 1 - 6% by weight raffinose.
3. The method according to claim 2 wherein said amino acid is glycine.
4. The method according to claim 2 wherein said amino acid and raffinose are in a ratio of concentration of about 1:2.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein said suitable carrier human serum albumin.
6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said buffering salt has a solubility greater than 1 gram/milliliter in water.
7. The method according to claim 6 wherein said buffering salt is citrate buffer.
8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said peptide composition has a pH of between 6.5 and 7.2.
9. The method according to claim 1 wherein said temperature of said lyophilization ranges between 5°
to 22°C.
to 22°C.
10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the vacuum of said lyophilization is approximately 60 millibars.
11. The method according to claim 1 wherein said peptide composition has a moisture content of between 3% to 6%.
12. A lyophilized peptide or protein which retains full biological activity produced by mixing said peptide with a physiologically acceptable high solubility buffering salt and a suitable carrier selected from the group consisting of human serum albumin and the combination of raffinose and an amino acid; freezing the resulting peptide composition at a temperature sufficient to avoid the formation of ice crystals; and lyophilizing said peptide composition under the conditions of a temperature no greater than 22°C and a vacuum between 40 to 80 millibars for a time sufficient to retain in said composition a moisture content of no greater than 6%.
13. The peptide according to claim 12 comprising thymopentin.
14. In an improved process for maintaining biological activity in a lyophilized peptide or protein wherein said peptide or protein in a high solubility buffer is frozen and lyophilized, the improvement comprising adding to said buffered peptide a suitable carrier selected from the group consisting of human serum albumin and the combination of raffinose and an amino acid selected from the group consisting of glycine, lysine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US33623689A | 1989-04-11 | 1989-04-11 | |
| US07/336,236 | 1989-04-11 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2028848A1 true CA2028848A1 (en) | 1990-10-12 |
Family
ID=23315165
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002028848A Abandoned CA2028848A1 (en) | 1989-04-11 | 1990-04-09 | Lyophilized peptide formulations |
Country Status (5)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP0420964A4 (en) |
| JP (1) | JPH03505334A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2028848A1 (en) |
| PT (1) | PT93744A (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1990012029A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (15)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5541116A (en) * | 1991-09-30 | 1996-07-30 | B.R.A.H.M.S. Diagnostica Gmbh | Method for the stabilization of endogenous, physiologically active peptides |
| US6288030B1 (en) * | 1993-12-22 | 2001-09-11 | Amgen Inc. | Stem cell factor formulations and methods |
| DE19539574A1 (en) | 1995-10-25 | 1997-04-30 | Boehringer Mannheim Gmbh | Preparations and processes for stabilizing biological materials by means of drying processes without freezing |
| AU5103200A (en) * | 1999-05-31 | 2000-12-18 | Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | Freeze dried hgf preparations |
| KR100400541B1 (en) * | 2000-12-28 | 2003-10-08 | 엘지전자 주식회사 | Magneto-optical recording device |
| US6803046B2 (en) * | 2002-08-16 | 2004-10-12 | Bracco International B.V. | Sincalide formulations |
| US7772188B2 (en) | 2003-01-28 | 2010-08-10 | Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Methods and compositions for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders |
| KR101198346B1 (en) | 2003-04-08 | 2012-11-06 | 노보 노르디스크 에이/에스 | Regeneration of chromatographic stationary phases |
| WO2004089985A1 (en) * | 2003-04-11 | 2004-10-21 | Novo Nordisk A/S | Stable pharmaceutical compositions |
| KR20210145307A (en) | 2008-08-15 | 2021-12-01 | 아이언우드 파마슈티컬스, 인코포레이티드 | Linaclotide-containing formulations for oral administration |
| JP2013501071A (en) | 2009-08-06 | 2013-01-10 | アイロンウッド ファーマシューティカルズ， インコーポレイテッド | Formulations containing linaclotide |
| MX340234B (en) | 2010-02-17 | 2016-07-01 | Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc | Treatments for gastrointestinal disorders. |
| EP3626253B8 (en) | 2010-08-11 | 2022-04-20 | Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Stable formulations of linaclotide |
| MX347354B (en) | 2011-08-17 | 2017-04-24 | Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc | Treatments for gastrointestinal disorders. |
| US11110063B2 (en) | 2017-08-25 | 2021-09-07 | MAIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Storage stable sincalide formulations |
Family Cites Families (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4000256A (en) * | 1975-04-30 | 1976-12-28 | Merck & Co., Inc. | Varicella vaccine and process for its preparation |
| US4190646A (en) * | 1975-11-11 | 1980-02-26 | Sloan-Kettering Institute For Cancer Research | Polypeptide compositions and methods |
| JPS61165322A (en) * | 1985-01-14 | 1986-07-26 | Microbial Chem Res Found | Spergualin composition for pharmaceutical use |
| US4764463A (en) * | 1986-10-30 | 1988-08-16 | The University Of Tennessee Research Corporation | Platelet cyropreservation |
-
1990
- 1990-04-09 EP EP19900906536 patent/EP0420964A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1990-04-09 CA CA002028848A patent/CA2028848A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1990-04-09 JP JP2506201A patent/JPH03505334A/en active Pending
- 1990-04-09 WO PCT/US1990/001900 patent/WO1990012029A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1990-04-11 PT PT93744A patent/PT93744A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| WO1990012029A1 (en) | 1990-10-18 |
| PT93744A (en) | 1990-11-20 |
| EP0420964A4 (en) | 1991-09-25 |
| EP0420964A1 (en) | 1991-04-10 |
| JPH03505334A (en) | 1991-11-21 |
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