EC JRC Announces Publication of Article on Measuring Nanoparticles in Medicinal Products

The European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced on May 10, 2019, publication of an article entitled “Measuring particle size distribution of nanoparticle enabled medicinal products, the joint view of EUNCL and NCI-NCL.  A step by step approach combining orthogonal measurements with increasing complexity” in the April 10, 2019, issue of the Journal of Controlled Release.  JRC, in close collaboration with researchers from the French Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Swiss Eidgenössische Material- und Prüfungs-Anstalt (EMPA), U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCI-NCL), and Irish Trinity College, has developed a common strategy for measuring the particle size distribution of nanomedicines.  According to JRC, “[a] quick preliminary step to assess sample integrity and stability by low resolution techniques is followed by the combination of complementary high resolution sizing measurements performed both in simple buffers and in complex biological media.”  The work is part of the collaboration between NCI-NCL and the European Nanomedicine Characterization Laboratory (EUNCL).  JRC states that it has led to “high quality, accurate, determination of particle size distribution.”  Standard operating procedures for the assessment of nanomedicines, including the measurements of particle size distribution, are publicly available, and EUNCL and NCI-NCL are offering wide access to their “state of the art”’ characterization platforms.