Lipid-based nanoparticles

Lipid-based nanoparticles have attracted significant interest in the last two decades and have achieved tremendous clinical success since the first clinical approval of Doxil in 1995. Many have since been approved for clinical use, demonstrating their unique advantages compared to other drug delivery systems.

As drug delivery systems, lipid-based nanoparticles offer many attractive benefits, such as great biocompatibility, ease of preparation, the feasibility of scale-up, nontoxicity and targeted delivery. With the capacity to encapsulate a variety of therapeutic agents — including small molecules, nucleic acids and antibodies — they can be used for a wide range of applications.

The Ardena team of analytical experts is experienced with analytical method development and employs advanced analytical techniques to characterize lipid-based nanoparticles. Employing liquid chromatography, we quantify lipids such as (PEGylated) phospholipids and cationic lipids, and their related impurities. Moreover, we have numerous techniques to quantify and determine the purity of small-molecule drugs, peptides, oligonucleotides and mRNA.

In addition, we can determine critical quality attributes like nanoparticle size distribution and morphology (e.g., liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, polymer micelles) with orthogonal techniques. Evaluating this and other nanoparticle characteristics such as surface charge and in vitro drug release ensures thorough characterization and optimization of lipid-based nanoparticle formulations.