Effect of Electric Charge on Biotherapeutic Transport, Binding and Absorption: A Computational Study

TL;DR

This paper presents a computational model to analyze how electric charge influences the transport, binding, and absorption of monoclonal antibodies in subcutaneous tissue, considering various physiological and formulation factors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mathematical model based on Nernst-Planck equations to simulate charged drug dynamics in tissue, integrating complex interactions and validating with experimental data.

Findings

Electric charge significantly affects drug transport and absorption.

Buffer pH and injection parameters influence drug distribution.

Model aligns well with experimental observations.

Abstract

This study explores the effects of electric charge on the dynamics of drug transport and absorption in subcutaneous injections of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We develop a novel mathematical and computational model, based on the Nernst-Planck equations and porous media flow theory, to investigate the complex interactions between mAbs and charged species in subcutaneous tissue. The model enables us to study short-term transport dynamics and long-term binding and absorption for two mAbs with different electric properties. We examine the influence of buffer pH, body mass index, injection depth, and formulation concentration on drug distribution and compare our numerical results with experimental data from the literature.