An isotope dilution mass spectrometry assay to track Norovirus-like particles in vaccine process intermediates by quantifying capsid protein VP1.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic shows the rapid pace at which vaccine development can occur which highlights the need for more fast and efficient analytical methodologies to track and characterize candidate vaccines during manufacturing and purification processes. The candidate vaccine in this work comprises plant-derived Norovirus-like particles (NVLPs) which are structures that mimic the virus but lack any infectious genetic material. Presented here is a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methodology for the quantification of viral protein VP1, the main component of the NVLPs in this study.

Usefulness of a titration algorithm for users of sacubitril/valsartan in a tertiary centre heart failure clinic.

Background: A reduction in the rate of death and hospitalisations in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction receiving sacubitril/valsartan compared to enalapril was demonstrated in the PARADIGM-HF study. However, tolerability when initiating and optimising sacubitril/valsartan treatment in real clinical practice is unknown.

Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study of clinical and biochemical parameters of the first 100 patients receiving sacubitril/valsartan in a tertiary HF clinic.