Microsaic upbeat on vaccine and drug technology first

Point-of-need mass spectrometry technology company Microsaic announced on Friday that, in collaboration with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), it had developed and demonstrated the first, real-time monitoring process analytical technology (PAT) MS solution for the on-line production of biotherapeutic drugs, such as vaccines and anti-cancer treatments.

The AIM-traded firm said live data transmitted via ‘internet-of-things’ (IoT) devices from the micro-engineered MS equipment would enable constant monitoring of production processes, to ensure high quality biological production output.

It explained that the real-time alert system would allow rapid scaling to large volumes, reduced supervision costs, and would accelerate vaccines and anti-cancer treatments through emergency and standard regulatory authorisation, and direct to patients.

“As part of the recent G7 directive to deliver faster production of vaccines and treatments to manage the current and future pandemics, we are delighted to have achieved this significant milestone,” said chief executive officer Glenn Tracey.

“In just a short time we have demonstrated and delivered an efficient automated production scaling methodology to fast-track drugs and vaccines to market, at a lower cost of production and without manual human intervention, whilst maintaining consistent high quality.”

Tracey said the company was not aware of other technology that could simultaneously analyse small and large molecules, as part of on-line production.

“We expect to interface with end-user manufacturing processes during the second half of this year, and we look forward to augmenting our system with further advanced artificial intelligence tools in our drive to remain at the cutting edge of technology in the ‘Industry 4.0’ era.”

At 1331 BST, shares in Microsaic Systems were up 15.56% at 0.26p.