Automated blood sampling

DiLab is engaged in the business of automated blood sampling systems with a focus upon Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, toxicology and biological research, offering the customer automation of the research process when repetitive blood sampling is used in pre-clinical animal trails. NGP asked DiLab’s Marketing Manager Per Dannhusen what to bear in mind when switching to automated blood sampling.

NGP. Manual blood sampling has been used for over 100 years, so in what ways are the needs for automated blood sampling increasing?
Today we see totally new needs – above all to improve the animals’ welfare and to increase the throughput in the trials. Thanks to automated blood sampling, the 3R concept can be improved. You don’t stress the animals as much and you can also use mice instead of rats thanks to smaller volumes of blood taken.

Regarding the throughput, the pharmaceutical companies today have to screen substances much faster and the demands are increasing on handling many samples from a lot of trials. The earlier you can exclude a substance from further investigations the better is the cost effectiveness in the end.

Also, the accuracy improves since you know exactly the volumes taken as well as the timing. By this you also never see a lag for plotted values in a curve due to delays in the sampling procedure.

NGP. Doesn’t the cost outdo the win?
No, the cost for switching to automated blood sampling is not high compared to the benefit that animals can be used in a totally new way. Quality saves money in the long run. The same animal can be used several times and even be their own comparison in a cross-over study. The fact that you can run the trial over night is especially appreciated. Over all, qualified staff members can use their time more cost effectively when supervising the computer instead of sampling blood.

NGP. What should the user bear in mind if choosing a switch to automated blood sampling?
Our experience is that best efficiency is achieved if the company or university pinpoints a kind of ‘super user’ internally – or a team that really investigates all the possibilities that opens up when using the AccuSampler. For example, trials can run over 18-24 hours without problems – a period that otherwise can have obstacles in the timing.

NGP. What instruments are you utilizing?
Basically two different instruments, where you choose the AccuSampler µ for smaller volumes – down to 5µl – or the AccuSampler Standard, which reaches up to more than a ml.

NGP. In the future, where do you see the biggest potential for automated blood sampling?
There is no other way to get a better kinetic profile than using automated blood sampling. The technique is still quite new and so far only the larger pharmaceutical companies have begun to reach a best practice set-up that really use 24/7 efficacy.  For the moment we see a big interest from companies where the animals must maintain normal behaviour and not get stressed – for example, when measuring hormone levels or when using a nocturnal animal whose natural daily rhythm and metabolism might be critical for the outcome.

Per Dannhusen is Marketing Manager at DiLab in Lund AB. He has an M.A. in Pharmacy from Uppsala University. Dannhusen has served several positions in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Marketing and Sales – for example Market Director at Ferring Sweden.