Methods and apparatus for the in vitro modelling of drug administration

1. An in vitro method of determining a change in a property of a drug formulation that occurs on administration, the method employing an apparatus that comprises:

a membrane cassette comprising a chamber having a membrane, the membrane having perforations through which components of the drug formulation are capable of diffusing for simulating changes that occur on administration of the drug formulation, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains one or more components found in the site of administration for simulating conditions at the site;

a bath that contains a liquid medium and said membrane cassette submerged therein;

a probe capable of detecting a change in a property of the drug formulation inside the membrane cassette, and optionally a change in a property of the drug formulation in the bath,

wherein the method comprises the steps of:

(a) arranging the membrane cassette in the bath;

(b) introducing the drug formulation into the chamber of the membrane cassette by injection;

(c) optionally changing one or more components or conditions of the drug formulation or the liquid medium; and

(d) determining the change of the property of the drug formulation using the probe.

2. An apparatus for determining a change in a property of a drug formulation that occurs on administration, the apparatus comprising:

a membrane cassette comprising a chamber having a membrane, the membrane cassette having an injection port for introducing samples of drug formulation or probes into the chamber of the membrane cassette, the membrane cassette allowing components of the drug formulation to diffuse for simulating changes that occur on administration of the drug formulation, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains one or more components found in the site of administration for simulating conditions at the site;

a liquid medium;

a bath that contains the liquid medium and the membrane cassette submerged therein;

a probe capable of detecting a change in a property of the drug formulation inside the membrane cassette, [and optionally a change in a poperty of the drug formulation in the bath,]

wherein in use the membrane cassette is arranged in the bath and the drug formulation is introduced by injection into the chamber of the membrane cassette thereby enabling changes in the property of the drug formulation to be determined using the probe.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration of a drug formulation to the eye, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains one or more hydrogels for modelling the vitreous humour of the eye and a membrane for modelling the sclera and the retina [optionally wherein the hydrogels comprise collagen and hyaluronic acid].

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration via an intramuscular route, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains one or more materials selected from actin, myosin, glycogen, myoglobin, collagen, troponin and/or tropomysin and a membrane having permeability properties that simulate muscle.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration via a subcutaneous injection route, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains hyaluronic acid and collagen.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration via an intradermal injection route, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains collagen and dermatan sulphate.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration via an intrathecal route, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains simulated cerebrospinal fluid as a buffer solution.

8. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane cassette is adapted for modelling administration via an epidural route, wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains one or more of collagen and hyaluronic acid for modelling filling the epidural space.

9. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the drug formulation is a polypeptide, peptide or antibody formulation.

10. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette contains components found in the extracellular matrix for simulating conditions at an injection site.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the extracellular matrix component comprises a hyaluronic acid or a salt thereof, a collagen, a fibronectin, a laminin, dermatan sulphate and/or one or more cell lines.

12. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the chamber of the membrane cassette has a volume between 0.5 ml and 10 ml.

13. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane is transparent.

14. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane is an unmodified microfiltration membrane or dialysis membrane.

15. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane is formed from regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate or ester or mixture of thereof, polycarbonate, polyester, polyestersulfone, nylon, polyvinyldinefluoride (PVDF), polyvinylchloride (PVC) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

16. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the membrane [injection port] comprises perforations [in the membrane are obtainable by treatment with a microneedle roller or a laser].

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the perforations are between about 0.1 and about 200 microns in size.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the perforations are between about 1 micron and 10 mm apart.

19. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the apparatus comprises a heat control and measurement system.

20. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the bath has a stirrer.

21. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the apparatus comprises a temperature measurement system and control for maintaining temperature control and maintaining convective flow to simulate a subcutaneous injection site.

22. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the liquid medium is a buffer solution.

23. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of probes.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the drug formulation comprises a protein drug and the probes comprise a Raman probe and/or fluorescence spectroscopy probe for monitoring the conformational changes the protein drug undergoes after injection and for monitoring said protein drug concentrations in the liquid medium inside the chamber [at least one of the buffer solution and the chamber].

25. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the probes comprise a temperature probe, a pressure transducer, a pH probe, or a probe for measuring optical density for determining precipitation of components of the formulation.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 , wherein said probe for measuring optical density for determining precipitation of components of the formulation is a spectrophotometer.

27. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the injection port is a port septum.