Product-Specific Impact of Viscosity Modulating Formulation Excipients During Ultra-High Concentration Biotherapeutics Drug Product Development

Developing ultra-high concentration biotherapeutics drug products can be challenging due to increased viscosity, processing, and stability issues. Excipients used to alleviate these concerns are traditionally evaluated at lower protein concentrations. This study investigates whether classically known modulators of stability and viscosity at low (<50 mg/mL) to high (>50 – 150 mg/mL) protein concentrations are beneficial in ultra-high (>150 mg/mL) concentration protein formulations and drug products. This study evaluates the effect of arginine monohydrochloride, proline, and lysine monohydrochloride on viscosity and concentratability at different high and ultra-high protein concentrations using a monoclonal antibody, mAbN, formulation as a candidate protein system. The effect of excipients on the viscosity and concentratability (rate and extent) was different at high versus ultra-high protein concentrations. These results highlight that classical excipients in literature known to modulate protein interactions at low protein concentrations and reduce viscosity at high protein concentrations may need to be evaluated at target protein concentrations in a product-specific manner while developing ultra-high concentration biologics drug products.