Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics

Roces, Carla B.; Lou, Gustavo; Jain, Nikita; Abraham, Suraj; Thomas, Anitha; Halbert, Gavin W.; Perrie, Yvonne

doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

Open AccessArticle

Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics

by

Carla B. Roces

¹,

Gustavo Lou

¹,

Nikita Jain

²,

Suraj Abraham

²,

Anitha Thomas

²,

Gavin W. Halbert

¹ and

Yvonne Perrie

^1,*

¹

Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 161 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G4 0RE, UK

²

Precision NanoSystems Inc., #50 655 W Kent Ave N, Vancouver, BC V6P 6T7, Canada

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Pharmaceutics 2020, 12(11), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

Submission received: 13 October 2020 / Revised: 1 November 2020 / Accepted: 3 November 2020 / Published: 15 November 2020

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Abstract

In the recent of years, the use of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for RNA delivery has gained considerable attention, with a large number in the clinical pipeline as vaccine candidates or to treat a wide range of diseases. Microfluidics offers considerable advantages for their manufacture due to its scalability, reproducibility and fast preparation. Thus, in this study, we have evaluated operating and formulation parameters to be considered when developing LNPs. Among them, the flow rate ratio (FRR) and the total flow rate (TFR) have been shown to significantly influence the physicochemical characteristics of the produced particles. In particular, increasing the TFR or increasing the FRR decreased the particle size. The amino lipid choice (cationic—DOTAP and DDAB; ionisable—MC3), buffer choice (citrate buffer pH 6 or TRIS pH 7.4) and type of nucleic acid payload (PolyA, ssDNA or mRNA) have also been shown to have an impact on the characteristics of these LNPs. LNPs were shown to have a high (>90%) loading in all cases and were below 100 nm with a low polydispersity index (≤0.25). The results within this paper could be used as a guide for the development and scalable manufacture of LNP systems using microfluidics.

Keywords: microfluidics; RNA; lipid nanoparticles; manufacture; critical process parameters; nucleic acid

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MDPI and ACS Style

Roces, C.B.; Lou, G.; Jain, N.; Abraham, S.; Thomas, A.; Halbert, G.W.; Perrie, Y. Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics. Pharmaceutics 2020, 12, 1095. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

AMA Style

Roces CB, Lou G, Jain N, Abraham S, Thomas A, Halbert GW, Perrie Y. Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics. Pharmaceutics. 2020; 12(11):1095. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

Chicago/Turabian Style

Roces, Carla B., Gustavo Lou, Nikita Jain, Suraj Abraham, Anitha Thomas, Gavin W. Halbert, and Yvonne Perrie. 2020. "Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics" Pharmaceutics 12, no. 11: 1095. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

APA Style

Roces, C. B., Lou, G., Jain, N., Abraham, S., Thomas, A., Halbert, G. W., & Perrie, Y. (2020). Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics. Pharmaceutics, 12(11), 1095. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12111095

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Manufacturing Considerations for the Development of Lipid Nanoparticles Using Microfluidics

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