Training on creating liposome-based drug delivery systems

On March 19th, 2020, Microfluidics’ Senior Applications Engineer Kelley McCabe hosted a webcast in conjunction with Pall Biotech on how to optimize liposomes production.

This was an important and timely webinar due to the current requirement for a Covid-19 vaccine. Liposomes and lipid nanoparticles as delivery systems for nucleic acid-based vaccines are one of the most promising current options in developing a Covid-19 cure.

Kelley’s training drew on our excellence in producing liposomes and nanoemulsions. The webinar included methods for processing complex fluids such as liposomes, and how to achieve the intended liposome-based solution for the application.

Here’s an overview of what we covered.

What are the challenges in preparing liposomes?

Manufacturers need to ensure uniform liposome particle size and distributions in their vaccine to promote rapid antigen delivery in the host. With other methods and processing equipment, this can be difficult to achieve. Frequent challenges include:

• Inconsistent conditions for the material processed
• Varying particle sizes when processed through a valve-based homogenizer, requiring more passes to achieve uniformity.
• Reduced throughput or increased wastage resulting from the additional passes.

The most efficient method for preparing liposomes

Microfluidizer^® technology offers huge advantages when producing liposomes. Designed to process each microliter of material under the same conditions, our unique equipment offers benefits across the entire liposome preparation method.

• Equipment for preparing liposomes contains fixed geometry Interaction Chambers^™. These collide liquid-to-liquid streams at high speed and pressure, transforming multi-lamellar vesicles into uni-lamellar vesicles.
• Every particle processed through a Microfluidizer’s^® high-shear processor receives the same treatment, which allows us to achieve uniform particle size and distribution in fewer passes than valve-based homogenizers.
• This increases material throughput and reduces wastage.
• Liposomes and nanoemulsions made using Microfluidizer^® technology are optimized for better downstream sterile filtration.

Controlling the properties of liposomes

The output of Microfluidizer^® high-shear homogenizers can be adjusted depending on the requirements of the liposome being prepared. By varying some of the process parameters, our machines can achieve different shear rates, resulting in liposomes with a range of properties.

The parameters that we can adjust include:

Fixed geometry Interaction Chambers^™. We offer two types of Interaction Chambers, each suited to different processes.

They can be supplied in different sizes to meet varying needs.

• Number of passes
• Shear rate
• Processing pressure, which affects the shear rate.

These parameters can be balanced to meet your specific application needs. Our expert team of engineers will work with you on a long-term basis to select the correct combination to meet your product goals.

Large-scale liposome production

A common obstacle in liposome manufacturing is scaling up laboratory trials to mass production quantities. Microfluidizer’s^® cGMP-compliant technology, with the dedicated Interaction Chamber™, achieves upscaling easily by increasing the number of Interaction Chambers™.

This effectively expands processor capacity, while still ensuring that each microliter of material experiences the same conditions of velocity, shear rate, and impact forces.