It wasn’t so long ago that people in the biotherapeutics industry talked about a “capacity bottleneck” to describe the difficulty faced by bioprocessors as their many products moved forth through development to require production at larger and larger scales (1). Expression technologies at the time were making proteins at levels suggesting that huge amounts of manufacturing capacity would be needed soon. Just after the turn of the century, product titers (in terms of protein present per liter of culture broth/supernatant)…
September 2008
Production and Economics of Biopharmaceuticals
Q&A with the Scientific Advisors HOWARD L. LEVINE president of BioProcess Technology Consultants, Inc. How long have you worked for your current employer, and where did you work before that? I’ve worked for my current employer since 1994. Before BioProcess Technology Consultants, I worked as vice president of manufacturing operations for Repligen. What degrees do you hold, and from where? PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago (1978); BS in chemistry from the University of Southern California (1975) Who…
Managing the Analytical Lifecycle for Biotechnology Products
Biotechnology pipelines have demonstrated significant growth over the past decade, with many therapeutic candidates evolving in a single class of protein molecules: the monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). To develop such therapeutic candidates, a scalable drug development process must leverage in-house and industry-wide knowledge so biotechnology companies can address the economic and medical needs of 21st-century medicine. Biotherapeutics development is complex, resource intensive, and time consuming, taking some 10 years of effort to go from target validation to commercialization. This reality, coupled…
Cell Culture and Upstream Development
Q&A with Scientific Advisor Dennis Kraichely How long have you worked for your current employer, and where did you work before that? When and why did you get involved in the biotechnology industry? What interested you the most about it? Since 2001, I have worked for Centocor R&D, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson Company) located in the greater Philadelphia, PA area. Prior to that I worked in cardiovascular discovery research at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals in Cincinnati, OH. Being trained…
Recovery and Purification
Q&A with the Scientific Advisors CHARLES SCHMELZER senior scientist in late-stage purification at Genentech, Inc. How long have you worked for your current employer, and where did you work before that? What degrees do you hold, and from where? I have been working at Genentech since September 1987. I have a BS degree (chemistry) from Rutgers University (Cook College) and a PhD degree (biochemistry) from North Carolina State University. UWE GOTTSCHALK vice president of purification technology at Sartorius Stedim Biotech…
Reducing Microbial Contamination Risk in Biotherapeutic Manufacturing
The risk of contamination (especially microbiological) is always an area for special attention in biopharmaceutical processes. No matter the process stage, whether upstream of a bioreactor or in the final filling of a sterile product, effective contamination control continues to be a critical requirement, so any opportunities for improvement may justify further investigation. Even with established validated processes, demands for higher purity and increased sterility assurance may require manufacturers to reassess their procedures and technologies. New processes present an even…