Protection of therapeutic antibodies from visible light induced degradation: Use safe light in manufacturing and storage

As macromolecules, biologics are susceptible to light exposure, which induces oxidation of multiple amino acid residues including tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine, cysteine and methionine. Pertaining to safety, efficacy and potency, light-induced oxidation of biologics has been widely studied and necessary precautions need to be taken during biologics manufacturing process, drug substance and products handling and storage. Proteins will degrade to varying extents depending on the protein properties, degradation pathways, formulation compositions and type of light source. In addition to UV light, which has been widely known to degrade proteins, visible light from indoor fluorescent lighting also can mediate protein degradation. In this report, we examine and identify wavelengths in the visual spectrum (400-700 nm) that can cause monoclonal antibody and histidine buffer degradation. Installation of safe lights which exclude the identified damaging wavelengths from visible spectra in manufacturing and storage areas can provide a balance between lighting requirement for human operators and their safety and conservation of product quality.