PEGylation once removed

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have figured out how to use PEGylation, a covalent modification, to create a non-covalent excipient that not only extends the shelf-life of biologics but boosts their in vivo stability.

Excipients used to formulate drugs work through reversible, non-covalent interactions with a drug in solution to increase its solubility and prevent aggregation, without changing the compound’s therapeutic activity. But these excipients only increase drug stability in vitro. To extend in vivo half-life, companies often turn to covalent modifications, such as PEGylation, but these direct modifications of a molecule can decrease its efficacy or increase its immunogenicity...