SwRI develops an ion-assisted chromatography process to accelerate drug development

(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO — August 27, 2025 — Southwest Research Institute scientists developed a new purification technique to improve chromatography results without expensive purification materials or equipment. Chromatography is an essential part of drug discovery, development and quality control, allowing scientists to isolate and synthesize active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that meet U.S. Food & Drug Administration purity standards.

“By far the most widely used chromatography purification process relies on silica gel; however, silica fails when purifying extremely polar organic compounds, commonly used in APIs,” said Research Scientist Dr. Travis Menard. “Other purification materials exist but are substantially more expensive. We think we’ve found a reliable and inexpensive alternative.”

Through internal research funding, SwRI scientists evaluated a technique discovered serendipitously while studying antidotes to nerve agents and pesticides. By adding calcium chloride during normal-phase chromatography of highly polar compounds, the team achieved purification results like those attained with more expensive materials and equipment. The technique applies to organic compounds such as amines, amine salts and peptides, common drug ingredients often referred to as biologics.

“We made the discovery almost by accident,” said Lead Scientist Dr. Shawn Blumberg, who happened upon the technique. “Our deionized water system was offline, so I decided to use tap water with hydrochloric acid. All of a sudden, we achieved really good results. Realizing that tap water in South Texas contains limestone or calcium carbonate provided the first clue that this technique might work.”

SwRI provides contract research and development services to government and industry clients. To accelerate R&D across industries, SwRI invests millions each year into a robust internal research program allowing staff to explore new and unproven ideas without the obligations or expectations associated with client work. Although Blumberg and his team developed the technique over several years, the 2025 IR&D project allowed researchers a chance to evaluate and optimize the technique with a variety of APIs currently under development at SwRI.

“Our preliminary results show ion-assisted chromatography may also apply to the purification of peptides. That would be a significant breakthrough,” said Menard. Additional research is needed to evaluate the technique for a growing number of pharmaceuticals made with peptides, such as semaglutide or GLP-1.

Menard will present a poster on the subject at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) 2025 PharmSCi 360 conference scheduled for November 9-12, 2025, in San Antonio.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/markets/biomedical-health/pharmaceutical-development  or https://www.swri.org/markets/biomedical-health/pharmaceutical-development/drug-discovery-research.

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