Companies that have tested MOBILion Systems’ MOBIE high-resolution ion mobility-mass spectrometry (HRIM-MS) have shared findings on problems the device was able to solve over other technologies.
The findings were outlined at several presentations throughout the 2024 American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference held in Anaheim, California, from 2 to 6 June.
MOBIE HRIM-MS is MOBILion's first commercial product and can be used to enhance analytical capabilities across applications, including drug development, clinical diagnostics, metabolic research and environmental science.
With capabilities such as lipid nanoparticle (LNP) impurity analysis and peptide drug analysis, the platform aims to enable safer, more efficacious drugs to be brought to market faster.
During the ASMS conference, Merck & Co (MSD) shared findings that MOBIE was able to better separate hydrolysed isomeric cyclic peptides and identify degradation patterns that traditional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) missed.
“Undesirable degradation is one of the main causes of Phase I and Phase II drug trials; the MOBIE analysis provided Merck a more accurate understanding of the drug stability, degradation and metabolic profile of the cyclic peptide drug,” MOBILion CEO Melissa Sherman told Medical Device Network.
Genentech presented findings on MOBIE’s characterisation of a small molecule drug compound it said could not be achieved with LC-MS.
Sherman continued: “Genentech used the MOBIE platform and discovered an inactive isomeric impurity that was coeluting and therefore not identified with LC-MS.
“The drug manufacturing process was modified and optimised for the active ingredient, changing the process from a five-step to three-step good manufacturing practice (GMP) process that saved significant cost and time.”
At ASMS, MOBILion also demonstrated the capabilities of MOBIE for intact protein analysis and the platform’s ability to separate intact proteins from process residues and other impurities.
Sherman said: “It was shown that with a single three-minute MOBIE run, the complex protein drug mixture and impurities are resolved with distinct trendlines that can be individually selected and isolated to create a clean mass spectrum of each analyte.
“The MOBIE HRIM-MS platform can be used as a rapid screening tool for the detection of impurities inherent in the processing of biologic therapeutics; achieving this with LC-MS would be either time prohibitive or unachievable due to the overlapping charge envelopes of each analyte present.”
In its presentation, MOBILion announced the upcoming release of its EyeOn 2.3 software update that aims to improve the sensitivity, linear dynamic range, data processing speed, ease of use and functionality of the MOBIE platform.
“We are continuously working to bring even more functionality to the system moving forward,” Sherman said.
MOBILion recently expanded its presence in Europe, in the hope of guaranteeing clients in the region receive prompt assistance and professional guidance on the MOBIE platform. In 2021, the company closed a $60m Series C venture financing round led by D1 Capital Partners.
Also at ASMS, Bruker launched NeofleX, a mass spectrometry-based tissue imaging device.
