# Portable Liquid Chromatography Platform for Diverse Pharmaceutical Applications

> **NIH NIH R44** · AXCEND, LLC · 2022 · $717,769

## Abstract

Project Summary
Liquid chromatography (LC) is the most important analytical technique in the pharmaceutical industry.
Currently available LC instruments on the market suffer from high cost and large size, contrary to the general
trend of miniaturization within the field of analytical instrumentation. Axcend Corporation has developed a
compact LC platform weighing 7 kg while still maintaining similar performance to the more traditional LC
models. In this Fast-Track SBIR project, researchers at Axcend Corporation in collaboration with capillary LC
instrumentation experts at Rowan University, two LC column manufacturers, and several leading international
pharmaceutical manufacturers, will adapt this compact LC instrument to fulfill the needs in the pharmaceutical
industry. In Phase I, the capability of the instrument to meet regulatory guidelines in terms of chromatographic
performance and data auditing will be demonstrated. Once completed, Phase II will involve the use of the
system in a number of relevant pharmaceutical applications. A high-throughput gradient LC screening method
will be developed to identify impurities in new chemical entities. The system will also be coupled to both batch
and process manufacturing streams for on-line reaction monitoring in real-time. New capillary LC columns will
be developed to enhance the separation of protein-based therapeutics (antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs)
and then applied to the full workflow required to characterize these ADCs. All of these aims will be achieved by
using the Axcend compact LC system, which is smaller, has a lower cost, is simpler to use, and reduces
solvent waste over 1,000-fold over traditional LC methodology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10348791
- **Project number:** 5R44GM137649-03
- **Recipient organization:** AXCEND, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** MILTON L. LEE
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $717,769
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10348791

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10348791, Portable Liquid Chromatography Platform for Diverse Pharmaceutical Applications (5R44GM137649-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10348791. Licensed CC0.

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