Developing The Highest Purity PEGs And mPEGs For Pharmaceutical Applications

By Dr. Stefan Randl, Head of R&D, Evonik Health Care

PEGylation, or the covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to pharmaceutical molecules, has been utilized for more than 30 years to improve the bioavailability, stability, targeting and performance of drug products across a range of treatment areas including cancer, hepatitis, auto-immune disorders and diabetes. Some of the main advantages of PEGylated drugs include better water solubility due to the hydrophilicity of PEGs, and reduced levels of immunogenicity, enzymatic degradation and renal clearance.

Due to their strong clinical record for safety and functional versality, PEGs and PEG derivatives are now being applied not only across a wide variety of drug classes such as proteins, peptides, but also with advanced drug delivery systems such as micelles and nanoparticles as well as bioresorbable polymeric excipients such as PLG.