New analytical capabilities at the CDCO to enhance data throughput

In 2022, the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation (CDCO) installed a SCIEX Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometer (AEMS) to greatly expedite bioanalytical processing and increase throughput for pharmaceutical profiling of new drug candidates. The purchase of this instrument was made possible by a grant from the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF), Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA), and Monash University.

Quantitative bioanalysis underpins the characterisation of physicochemical, biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic properties but is a time-consuming and laborious process, representing a significant bottleneck in the provision of data to progress new drug candidates. The new AEMS instrument will significantly reduce turnaround times for data to guide and inform medicinal chemistry.

Director of the CDCO, Professor Susan Charman, said: “The AEMS provides a substantial increase in sample throughput – with conventional LC/MS, analysis of 100 samples takes between 6 and 7 h. With the AEMS, the same number of samples can be analysed in less than 5 min providing a substantial reduction in analysis time.”

“This means we will be able to support more Australian drug discovery projects and provide quality data to our collaborators in a much shorter timeframe”.

The CDCO has implemented this new analytical capability to support all binding assays (plasma, media, and tissue binding), permeability assays, and selected metabolic stability and pharmacokinetic assays. Results indicate comparable assay performance in relation to sensitivity, accuracy, precision and linearity for the majority of compounds tested compared to conventional LC/MS/MS analysis. The utility of the instrument is now being assessed for applicability to all new projects to decrease turnaround times for the provision of critical data to Australian researchers.