EMD Millipore, the life science division of Merck KGaA, has formed a collaboration with celares GmbH, a company providing customized biopharmaceuticals services, to provide pegylation (PEG) services for protein-based therapeutics and biosimilars. The new service offering includes feasibility studies, process and analytical development, and scale-up from milligram to gram quantities required for pilot and subsequent commercial scale.

Pegylation, the attachment of polyethylene glycol to a molecule, is used to help overcome pharmacological and physicochemical challenges by improving the properties of peptide and protein therapeutics and reduce side effects. The service will complement EMD Millipore's offerings in PEG-related products, including functionalized PEG products of different molecular weight and activation chemistry, as well as buffers, solvents and excipients, and subsequent purification products required, including tangential and normal flow filtration and chromatography.

Source: EMD Millipore