Manufacturing Bacteriophages (Part 2 of 2): Formulation, Analytics and Quality Control Considerations

Within this second piece of the two-part series of phage manufacturing considerations, we are examining the creation of a drug product from a drug substance in the form of formulation, through to fill-finish. Formulation of a drug product, in the case of bacteriophage products, is often considered only after many choices have been made in the development and manufacture of a drug substance, increasing the final product development timeline and difficulty of achieving necessary performance parameters. As with the preceding review in this sequence, we aim to provide the reader with a framework to be able to consider pharmaceutical development choices for the formulation of a bacteriophage-based drug product. The intent is to sensitize and highlight the tradeoffs that are necessary in the development of a finished drug product, and to be able to take the entire spectrum of tradeoffs into account, starting with early-stage R&D efforts. Furthermore, we are arming the reader with an overview of historical and current analytical methods with a special emphasis on most relevant and most widely available methods. Bacteriophages pose some challenges that are related to but also separate from eukaryotic viruses. Last, but not least, we close this two-part series by briefly discussing quality control (QC) aspects of a bacteriophage-based product, taking into consideration the opportunities and challenges that engineered bacteriophages uniquely present and offer.