As point-of-care (POC) diagnostics and high throughput sequencing expand in popularity, the need for room temperature-stable products grows. POC diagnostics need to be capable of ambient storage in order to make their way into consumer homes, rural clinics, and offices without validated cold storage. Similarly, pre-filled high-throughput plates that can be easily stored at the bench (or even within the sequencer) can improve end user experience. Lyophilization is the key to ambient reagents, even those including enzymes that traditionally require frozen conditions. More companies are now seeking out lyophilization, but they have found accessibility a challenge.
More companies are now seeking out lyophilization, but they have found accessibility a challenge.
A Better Solution
The full benefits of lyophilization extend broadly across cost savings, convenience, and sustainability. Lyophilized reagents eliminate expensive cold chain shipping and storage from your supply chain. Additionally, ambient shipments do not require Styrofoam shipping containers, reducing the overall environmental impact of the product. Pre-aliquoted formats such as unit-dose beads mean that end users can avoid freeze/thaw cycles and pipetting errors.
To learn more about the advantages of lyophilization, download the white paper here.
Despite its broad appeal, lyophilization has remained a niche skillset. There are few companies with the in-house skilled staff to lyophilize, and only a handful of those are contract service providers. Add in the requirement for products to be made within the standards of cGMP and ISO 13485:2016, and that number drops further. Companies wanting to lyophilize their products can be discouraged by the difficulty of finding either a suitable contract manufacturer or trained personnel to hire.
Argonaut’s enhanced partnership with IDT is a major step towards lyophilization accessibility for everyone. All companies are now able to order their lyo-ready IDT reagents in custom lyophilized formats, including unit-dose beads, high-throughput plates, and more. IDT reagents will be shipped to Argonaut, combined with any desired additional components, and lyophilized in the format of choice. Our partnership takes the guesswork out of finding a trusted lyophilization provider and streamlines the ordering process.
Argonaut’s enhanced partnership with IDT is a major step towards lyophilization accessibility for everyone.
The Argonaut Ecosystem Supports You
Every company exists in an “ecosystem”; a network of interacting companies, customers, and suppliers. Just like the ecological parallel, companies within an ecosystem can be competitors for the same resources or have their own niches that exist in harmony. Mutually beneficial arrangements will frequently arise between ecosystem occupants. Importantly, projects within the ecosystem are consistently easier to develop, faster to complete, and are more cost-effective thanks to pre-established relationships. Argonaut maintains what we call Ecosystem Partnerships with trusted companies that have complementary service offerings to ours. Each of these partners have a similar customer base yet provides services outside of our scope. By working together, Argonaut and our partners provide a stronger complete service offering for our shared clients.
Argonaut maintains what we call Ecosystem Partnerships with trusted companies that have complementary service offerings to ours.
IDT is one of our earliest Ecosystem Partners, and our newly enhanced partnership significantly expands the manufacturing solutions available to life science and molecular diagnostic organizations. As a widely recognized life science leader in genomics, IDT develops and produces custom nucleic acids, as well as reagents for CRISPR genome editing, PCR, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), synthetic biology, and more. Growing subsets of these components are considered “lyo-ready” or amenable to being lyophilized, but IDT does not currently offer this as a service. With the enhanced partnership, IDT customers can now have their products lyophilized at Argonaut and eliminate the guesswork of finding a supplier.
Lyophilization offers a competitive advantage over traditional formats, but historically companies have struggled to access the technology. By partnering with Argonaut, IDT has broken down this lyophilization barrier. Small innovative startups now have the same access to lyophilization as their larger competitors, giving them the power to compete in the market. With a greater number of companies eliminating their cold chain and reducing their carbon footprint, there is also a net positive for the environment. Your next steps toward cost reduction and going green are now easier than ever.
By partnering with Argonaut, IDT has broken down this lyophilization barrier.
Interested in learning how to take advantage of the IDT-Argonaut partnership or how lyophilization can benefit your organization? Contact us to explore our full-service offering.
