Biowaived Biopharmaceutics Experts​

Delivering biopharmaceutics and dissolution strategies for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to support drug product development.

Evaluate Biopharmaceutical Risks

Assess Drug Product Performance

Develop Dissolution Workflow

Understand the performance of your drug product

A strategic and systematic approach to drug product development can conserve resources by reducing risks linked to product performance in patients. Our expertise can assist in selecting the suitable dissolution test that focuses on the key performance attributes.

Optimising Formulation Bioperformance

Biopharmaceutics Risk Management

Expert analysis and advice combined with experimental services to understand drug product performance and de-risk a project across development milestones and clinical studies.

Dissolution Strategy And Workflow

Analytical and biorelevant dissolution studies to support drug product development and deliver a complete dissolution data package in readiness for regulatory submissions.

Dissolution Guided Drug Product Design

Access expert advice to understand the critical dissolution attributes which define formulation performance and ensure that performance in patients is at the core of your drug product design strategy.

Services

Begin your journey to confidently understand the critical performance attributes for your formulation’s performance – we offer assistance ranging from a simple solubility profile through to biopredictive dissolution testing.

Access Biowaived’s expert services for consultancy and laboratory based experimental support for biopharmaceutical risk assessment, optimising formulation performance for relative bioavailability & bioequivalence studies and our product performance-led approach to dissolution method development.

Consultancy

Our consultancy services include biopharmaceutics risk management, Physiologically Based Biopharmaceutics Modelling, dissolution design, method development strategy so that drug product performance is understood and bioequivalence risks are minimised. Partner with us to navigate complex challenges and accelerate your project across all phases of clinical development.

Dissolution

We specialise in dissolution method development and designing dissolution studies to understand drug product performance. We offer dissolution work packages to support formulation changes throughout the drug product lifecycle and for regulatory submissions. Our services include fast HPLC assay method development to reduce resource demand and improve carbon footprint.

Biorelevant Dissolution

Our biorelevant dissolution services include dissolution testing in standard and complex biorelevant media including dissolution in bicarbonate based buffer conditions. Biorelevant dissolution studies are designed to consider the critical attributes affecting drug product performance in vivo including media composition, pH, mixing and gastrointestinal transit. We can modify dissolution conditions to reflect the relevant patient population including simulation of paediatric biorelevant conditions.

Solubility

We offer a range of solubility studies including pH solubility profiling, ICH M9 solubility studies for BCS-based biowaivers, solubility assessments in complex biorelevant media, evaluations of solubility in drug product vehicles, and analysis of amorphous material solubility. Our goal is to gain insights into the compound's behaviour and contextualize solubility data by considering physicochemical phenomena such as self-association and interactions with media components, ultimately delivering a thorough understanding of your drug's solubility and its effects on drug product dissolution.

Supersaturation & Precipitation

We offer two-stage dissolution transfer experimentation and/or the artificial stomach duodenum model to profile supersaturation and precipitation under physiologically relevant conditions. Understand how your formulation performs on gastric emptying and the risks associated with precipitation in the small intestine.

API Properties

Acquire comprehensive characterisation of your Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) through our expert analysis of its physicochemical properties including pKa, LogP, and Ksp, as well as its pH-solubility profile, intrinsic solubility, stability in aqueous media, bile partitioning, and intrinsic dissolution rate. Physicochemical profiling will help you evaluate and address biopharmaceutical risks during drug product development.

BCS Biowaiver

We will help you prepare for BCS based Biowaiver applications by designing and delivering solubility and dissolution studies. We can work with a range of vendors to design the appropriate permeability experiment for your molecule from a basic screen to a full BCS biowaiver data package. A well designed dataset will help you prepare for a successful biowaiver application.

PBBM/PBPK & Dissolution Modelling

We offer predictive in vitro dissolution modelling using Siemens gPROMS Pharmaceutics either as part of a dissolution workflow, or as a separate service to aid optimisation of dissolution conditions. We also offer PBPK modelling services to support biopharmaceutical risk management and formulation selection.

Start The Conversation

01

Discussion to understand your project

02

Agree on a proposal to address the key risks

03

Deliver the data with expert interpretation and inform your go-forward strategy

We know the challenges successful medicines overcame

Designing your drug product to seamlessly transition through clinical development is a challenging task that needs a clear focus on biopharmaceutics and product performance throughout the development lifecycle. Here at Biowaived we can offer our collective experience from many years of industrial experience with projects spanning early preclinical development, FiH/PoC studies, late-phase clinical development, commercial registration and life-cycle management. The Biowaived team are an experienced group of Biopharmaceutics Experts who can provide expert guidance and experimental support to ensure your drug product design strategy is focused on performance in the people who matter – the patients!

The Biowaived Team

Our team is comprised of experienced scientists in Biopharmaceutics, Formulation, Analytical and Materials Sciences.

Mark McAllister

Chief Scientific Officer

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Inese Sarcevica

Chief Executive Officer

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Kieran Smith

Chief Operations Officer

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Aaron Brady

Chief Compliance Officer

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Mike Cram

Chief Technology Officer

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Biopharmaceutics Blog

Biowaived Laboratory Now Operational

September 17, 2024

Biowaived Ltd. is officially open for business with the announcement

Frequently Asked Questions

Biopharmaceutics is the study of the factors influencing the bioavailability of a drug. Biopharmaceutics allows formulation scientists understand how the drug product that they are developing will perform when dosed to patients and to optimise formulation to achieve the desired performance.

Simple dissolution tests are not able to replicate the complex dynamic conditions present in the human GI tract. Prediction of clinical performance of a drug product requires comprehensive understanding of drug material properties, drug product behaviour, and human physiology. Only by combining this knowledge with appropriately designed dissolution tests it is possible to predict the in vivo performance of a drug product.

Biorelevant dissolution attempts to replicate conditions relevant to the physiological environment in which the drug product will dissolve. For example, biorelevant dissolution media simulates some of the complexity of intestinal fluids (presence of bile salts and phospholipids).

A well designed dissolution workflow in combination with PBPK modelling can help understand and address biopharmaceutical risks and to inform drug product design. However, the dissolution methodology must take into consideration the potential failure modes associated with the drug material and drug product characteristics as well as the interactions between physiology and the drug product.

Aaron brings a solid foundation of analytical expertise from academia and industry to his position at Biowaived.

He earned his master’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Kent in 2016. His professional career began at Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, where he was responsible for assessing solid dosage form characteristics in support of formulation development.

Aaron later joined Pfizer Analytical Research and Development in Sandwich where he specialised in dissolution design and analytical method development. He had leading roles in implementing initiatives to enhance operational efficiency to reduce overall work-in-progress during formulation development and in supporting project teams with regulatory filings. In this role, he gained valuable experience of in vitro drug product performance in relation to pharmaceutical quality.

As Chief Compliance Officer, Aaron is dedicated to positioning Biowaived as a trustworthy entity in its field, ensuring that the organization not only meets regulatory standards but also builds a reputation for integrity and reliability in its operations.

Mike is set to become the Chief Technology Officer at Biowaived. He holds a degree in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Sunderland and is an RSC Chartered Chemist, bringing with him 28 years of experience from GSK and Pfizer, where he developed a keen interest in advanced analytical technologies.

During his early career, Mike spent 14 years in Research Formulation at Pfizer, where he not only assisted with pre-formulation and physicochemical profiling activities, but also led the execution of multiple fully integrated automation projects, encompassing kinetic, thermodynamic, and BCS solubility as well as Caco-2 absorption screens.

He subsequently joined Drug Product Design at Pfizer where he spent several years leading cross functional teams during the late-stage development of two novel parenteral projects.

Over the past decade, Mike has dedicated himself to the field of Materials Science at Pfizer, displaying an elevated level of technical expertise and a strong analytical approach to problem solving. This combination has empowered him to effectively lead multidisciplinary teams, both within the organisation and externally, in the investigation of intrinsic and extrinsic particulates identified during drug product development.

Kieran brings over a decade of experience in pharmaceutical analysis to his role as Chief Operating Officer at Biowaived.

He holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Surrey and began his career at the British Pharmacopeia Commission Laboratory, where he developed his analytical skillset, testing a vast array of products and developing pharmaceutical monographs.

Following this, Kieran joined Pfizer and gained considerable experience in pharmaceutical development from early product design stages through to regulatory submission. Through a focused commitment to studying dissolution, he developed a deep understanding of drug product performance and the importance of dissolution testing; not only to ensure the quality of medicines but also to predict in vivo performance.

Kieran advocates for continuous improvement and adaptability, believing that focus on mentorship, collaboration and productivity can create a dynamic and responsive work environment. He enjoys new challenges and implementing strategies to streamline processes.

Inese joins Biowaived as the Chief Executive Officer, bringing with her experience from both academic and industrial settings.

During her Master’s and PhD studies in physical chemistry at the University of Latvia, she developed a strong fascination with molecular processes. This foundation has proven helpful in her subsequent work within the biopharmaceutics field, where understanding the physicochemical properties of drug compounds is crucial for drug product bioperformance.

Over the course of her career in the pharmaceutical industry, Inese has worked on modelling techniques that extract insights from experimental data, thereby facilitating drug product development. While at Pfizer’s Drug Product Development group, she worked on integrating the knowledge of material properties with in vitro study outcomes to forecast the performance of drug products. Inese aims to harness her passion for innovative solutions to position Biowaived as a trusted partner for pharmaceutical companies in need of biopharmaceutical expertise.

Dr Mark McAllister is a Pharmacy graduate from Queen’s University Belfast and has a pharmaceutics PhD from Aston University which focused on liposomal delivery to the lung for the treatment of cystic fibrosis infections. 

Mark has 30 years industrial development experience and has specialised in oral delivery systems and biopharmaceutics through roles with Hoechst-Roussel, GlaxoSmithKline and most recently as a Senior Director and Head of Global Biopharmaceutics, part of the Drug Product Design group at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent. 

Mark was the Pfizer drug product lead for Lorlatinib, an accelerated small molecule treatment for NSCLC, commercialised as Lorviqua in the EU and Lorbrena in USA/Canada/Japan. He is a former chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and is currently a visiting lecturer at King’s College London. 

Mark co-led the IMI ‘OrBiTo’ biopharmaceutics project, an academic/industrial collaboration, focused on the development of the next generation of models to predict oral absorption and he currently participates in a number of pre-competitive research programmes including COLOTAN, AGePOP and InPharma Marie Skłodowska-Curie innovative training networks. 

Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Mark is a co-author on more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and book chapter contributions, multiple patents and invited presentations and 50 poster presentations.