Thermo Fisher, Symphogen Extend Development Pact

Thermo Fisher Scientific and Symphogen, an affiliate of Servier, have extended a strategic collaboration to deliver innovative characterization and quality control workflows for the simplified analysis of complex therapeutic proteins to advance biopharmaceutical discovery and development.

Since the collaboration was established in 2018, Symphogen has been using the analytical capabilities of the Thermo Scientific Q Exactive Plus Orbitrap liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) system with BioPharma Option, and most recently the Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Exploris 480 mass spectrometer, to develop, test and routinely implement platform workflows for intact and native mass analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) mixtures. The high-performance analytical workflows were developed to enable biopharma companies to deliver novel treatment options.

"Through our collaboration with Symphogen, we can provide the biopharmaceutical industry with proven characterization methods that can be translated into transferable, routine, compliance-ready solutions to boost drug discovery and development," said Eric Grumbach, director, biopharma/pharma, chromatography and mass spectrometry, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "By continuing to invest in this relationship, we demonstrate our commitment to offer solutions designed to tackle today’s most pressing biopharmaceutical challenges."

Dan Bach Kristensen, principal investigator, Symphogen, said, "Over the past two years, the advanced characterization and lead selection studies of several hundred mAb samples enabled by the Q Exactive Plus Orbitrap LC-MS/MS system has allowed us to simplify our analytical strategies, ultimately accelerating our pipeline. Extending our collaboration with Thermo Fisher is the natural way forward to continue driving innovation in the discovery and development of highly differentiated cancer therapeutics."