Oligonucleotides

Production of Oligonucleotides

Oligonucleotides are emerging as the platform for the future of new therapies, including new (mRNA) vaccines. The effectiveness and safety of oligos for a wide variety of transmissible and genetic diseases lends great promise for future treatments. YMC has been at the side of peptide and oligo scientists for four decades—with phases, resins, lab services, and now innovative multi-column chromatography designs.

YMC is the global leader in purification solutions for oligo CMOs and end users. For example, our metal-free columns deliver improved sensitivity and peak shape of coordinating compounds such as nucleotides or oligonucleotides. And our industry-leading Contichrom twin-column continuous purification systems, enabled with our patented MCSGP* process, enhance oligo yield up to 60% and reduce time in production up to 40% while reducing QC analysis by up to a factor of 10.

The production of oligonucleotides for therapeutic use requires that any undesired byproducts of synthesis be removed in order to obtain pharmaceutical-grade purity. To this end, a chromatographic polishing step is routinely undertaken using YMC columns and phases/resins. The conventional batch approach often has an overall yield of production of 40-60%. Given the high cost of synthesis, poor chromatographic performance downstream has a major negative impact on the economics of the overall production. As a countermeasure, lower purity “waste” products can undergo re-chromatography; however, this greatly reduces process productivity and significantly increases the burden of analytical characterization of product fractions. Thus, manufacturers are looking for alternative, more advanced chromatographic methodologies to boost yield. YMC now provides the solution to the yield vs. purity trade-off, with substantial savings in production time.