Installation of the system has reduced time from commencement of analysis to the final report by at least 30 per cent, according to TetraQ, helping clients to speed the drug development process.
“The Spark robotics, linked to our triple quadrupole mass spectrometers and validated WinNonLin data processing software, provides significant advantages to our clients in the pharmaceutical industry”, explained Russell Addison, bioanalysis facility manager at TetraQ.
Spark Symbiosis achieves time savings by extracting drugs being tested from plasma using solid phase extraction cartridges. This robotic automated process allows for direct analysis of plasma samples, helping TetraQ to achieve time savings.
Furthermore, the system has cost and environmental advantages. These gains are achieved because Spark Symbiosis uses smaller volumes of organic solvents than the traditional manual-extraction procedure, according to the contract research organisation (CRO).
TetraQ believes Spark Symbiosis will benefit is business, especially as it is the first Australia-based preclinical CRO to install the system, and claims it has already received positive feedback from clients.
In particular, Keith Dredge, preclinical development director at Progen Pharmaceuticals, said the system has allowed TetraQ to develop a fully validated bioanalytical assay for his company’s lead candidate.
This was proving extremely difficult using conventional methods, according to Dredge who believes that Spark Symbiosis “will support the evolutionary changes that typically arise during the drug development process as we move our product into the clinic”.
Progen is an Australia-based pharmaceutical company but TetraQ is also hoping to attract international clients. In October 2009 the CRO entered into an alliance to target the Japanese market.