The new FlashQuant platform has been developed as part of the continuing collaboration between ABI and Sciex, a division of MDS Analytical, to help alleviate the analysis bottleneck in ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) profiling during early stage drug development.
The companies conducted tests to show that the new instrument can deliver the quantification of small molecules 25 times faster than the fastest liquid chromatography-coupled triple quadrupole mass spectrometers currently in the market.
It is widely estimated that it costs $1bn (€0.73bn) to bring a drug to market and this has put the pharmaceutical industry under increasing pressure to increase efficiency and output.
The pharmaceutical industry has also come under fire from some sectors for the high attrition rates during drug development.
The Tufts Centre for the Study of Drug Development has estimated that development costs can be as high as $37,000 per day.
The new instrument has been tested by various researchers, including Dr Mark Cole, a research fellow at Pfizer's Groton ADME laboratory in Connecticut, US.
The laboratory analyses an average of 75,000 samples a week before the data is funnelled back to medicinal chemists to allow them to optimise the compounds for development.
"The tremendous increase in speed unlocks a lot of potential for our lab, allowing us to consider running experiments that we don't have the capacity for now," said Dr Cole.
"With this throughput, we could essentially 'front-load' discovery, which increases the chances of ultimately getting a compound to market."
The developers of the instrument believe it will allow researchers in drug discovery laboratories to generate results from ADME profiling.
Samples from the preclinical studies can be placed in 96 well plates before matrix deposition by an automated process renders them amenable to the MALDI (matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionisation) method used by the instrument.
Samples are ionised by a laser that can scan the plate to deliver the ions to the triple-quadrupole MS that has high sensitivity and specificity and allows the measurement of minute quantities of compounds.
This type of MS has been shown to be particularly useful for the analysis of small molecules such as drug compounds and their metabolites.
"Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex' history of working with pharmaceutical companies continues to shape our deep understanding of the tools needed to advance drug development, " said Andy Boorn, president for MDS Analytical Technologies.
"We believe that with MS innovations such as FlashQuant, we will continue to drive new capabilities for pharmaceutical discovery."