New biological entities (NBEs, therapeutic proteins such as interferons or antibodies) are much more complex than new chemical entities (NCEs), the classic “chemical†active ingredients. First, they are much larger. The average molecular weight of antibodies is ~150,000 g/mol. Second, most NBEs contain three-dimensional structural elements — with the protein secondary and tertiary structure being the most prominent, but quaternary structures are also known for some. The 3D structures are essential for correct bioactivity (1), but they are…
2010
Process Development’s Impact on Cost of Goods Manufactured (COGM)
Manufacturing throughput (the amount of material a plant can produce per year) is affected by process yield and plant run rate. The higher they are, the more a plant can produce per year, requiring fewer lots to meet annual demand. Although a process development team obviously determines the process yield, the team also determines the impact on the run rate of duration and potential implementation complexity of the entire train of unit operations. Thus, an optimized process maximizes…
Global Marketplace
Laboratory Instruments Product: Cubis laboratory balance and Arium Pro laboratory water purification system Applications: Precision medical and life-science laboratory work Features: International Forum Design GmbH awarded Sartorius the 2010 international iF Product Design Award for two laboratory products in the medicine/healthcare category. Cubis modular laboratory balances can be custom-configured for different working environments. The Arium Pro laboratory water purification system produces ultrapure water quickly, safely, and cost-effectively for chromatography, cell cultivation, and protein purification laboratory applications. Contact Sartorius AG www.sartorius.com…
TIDES® Oligonucleotide and Peptide Technology and Product Development
Moving to Boston, MA, after four years in the western United States (Las Vegas and Carlsbad, CA), the Tides conference continues to be the must-attend event for the industry that grows in attendance each year. The 2010 agenda includes thought-provoking keynotes and featured presentations, a compelling regulatory session, and discussions with CBER, FDA, and European regulatory agency speakers. In separate tracks for each type of molecule, learn more from the new, full-day sessions on CMC manufacturing and analysis and a…
Making a Positive Urban Impact
Like so many other midwestern industrial cities, St. Louis, MO, saw its manufacturing base decline over the past 40 years. Led by the automobile, shoe manufacturing, and defense industries, that decline was coupled with a notable decrease in the city population. From 1950’s high of 850,000 people, the city dwindled to ~350,000 by the 1990s, although its metropolitan area grew to >2,000,000. Accelerating growth of high technology in the 1990s had minimal impact on St. Louis the “old industry” the…
The Time Has Come for Automation in Bioprocessing
As early as 1997, automation was ready to offer potential benefits to the bioprocess industry (1). Professor Bernhard Sonnleitner of the Zürich University of Applied Sciences’ Institute for Chemistry and Biological Chemistry suggested a “standard operating procedure†and pointed to the opportunities, requirements, and potential pitfalls of applying the principles of automation to bioprocess development and operations. If “boring and less interesting routine tasks†could “more efficiently and reliably be handed down to machines,†he explained, then personnel…
Minibodies and Multimodal Chromatography Methods
Small, genetically engineered immunological constructs are being developed industry-wide for a growing range of in vivo applications. Examples include Fab, F(ab’)2, single-chain (sc) Fv, bis-scFV, diabodies, minibodies, and single-domain antibodies (1). Their small size potentially gives them access to tissues that are poorly accessible by intact antibodies; rapid clearance from blood and nontargeted tissues; lower immunogenic response; and eye-drop, inhalant, or oral administration. We report here on purification of an affinity-matured, humanized, antiprostate stem-cell antigen (PSCA) minibody for…
Biopharmaceutical Information Infrastructure 2.0
This two-part article explores related tools and technologies that biopharmaceutical companies can leverage to build an efficient mechanism for capturing and delivering valuable information. In BioProcess International’s December 2009 issue, part 1 of the series focused on infrastructure selection and how hardware, software, and information systems form a kind of ecosystem (1). Simplicity, sustainability, and scalability can be achieved only when that trio is designed holistically. Part 1 further explored structured data capture and analysis tools, whereas this…
Microanalytical Techniques for Identifying Nonprotein Contaminants in Biologics
Proteins can aggregate at any point during pharmaceutical manufacturing. Regulatory agencies pay special attention to aggregates that can enhance immune responses and cause adverse clinical effects and those that can compromise the safety and efficacy of a drug product. Biopharmaceutical companies have stringent quality control (QC) procedures in place to ensure that their final products are free of contaminants and defects, including protein aggregates. Trained QC inspectors, however, can typically see product defects or particulate material only as small as…
Is Bovine Albumin Too Complex to Be Just a Commodity?
For decades, the complexity of albumin has been researched extensively, yet many manufacturers and users of the protein have treated it more as a commodity. Because albumin has been readily available, suppliers and purchasers alike have frequently relied on more obvious measures of “purity†and other minimal release criteria to make their decisions. If a lot does not perform well in practice, the typical supplier’s response has been to investigate the manufacturing process for deviations, then correct them…