Earlier this year, the FDA issued its long-awaited process validation guidance document, which had been several years in development. It is well written and effectively articulates what many progressive companies have been thinking and doing for years. But many people in the industry are asking questions. Part 1 of this article described the history of process validation before the FDA’s quality by design (QbD) initiative and discussed QbD in general. It also described the new process validation…
Analytical
Analysis and Immunogenic Potential of Aggregates and Particles
The conclusion of this CMC Forum continued to focus on the latest developments in detection and characterization of protein aggregates (1). Afternoon sessions detailed the most recent experiments probing the role of protein aggregates in immunogenicity, with discussions on the best models to use and initial results. Topics included potential thresholds for immunogenicity, linking laboratory and clinical data, and predicting and testing potential immunogenicity of products throughout a development lifecycle. Afternoon Sessions Amy Rosenberg (Division…
Evaluating AMMP Protein A Assays: Comparing Sample Preparation Methods, Ligand Performance & Assay Performance
Regulations governing the production of biopharmaceuticals require high levels of purity for processes utilizing Protein A affinity chromatography. It has been shown that Protein A in the presence of IgG forms a PA/IgG complex that interferes in the traditional immunoassay format for detecting Protein A. In this work we evaluated the AMMP Protein A Assay using two popular sample preparation methods to dissociate the ProteinA/IgG complex. The AMMP assay was also tested with Protein A ligands from multiple sources including…
A Single-Use Bioreactor for Both Cell and Microbial Cultures: A Dream Becomes Reality
Application of single-use equipment is common practice in the biopharmaceutical industrial and academic field. Compared to the traditional glass or stainless steel bioreactors, single-use bioreactors offer clear advantages: a quicker turnaround time; minimal utilities required; greatly reduced risk of cross contamination; more operational flexibility; reduced validation requirements. However, until recently, single-use bioreactors have a restricted application, only to animal cell cultures due to limitations in mixing and mass-transfer. As single-use technology not only has significant benefits for cell culture processes,…
Toward Defined Culture Conditions for Pluripotent Stem Cells, Part 2
At the UK National Stem Cell Network ‘s annual meeting in York, UK on 31 March 2011, a workshop organized by STEMCELL Technologies workshop addressed defined media for human stem cell culture. As illustrated in Part 1 (October 2011), it is critical to understand the pathways that maintain genetic stability during hES self-renewal, which is a prerequisite for all clinical applications. Because physiological DNA damage can take place during normal cellular proliferation, and accumulation of unrepaired DNA could…
Understanding Chromatographic Media Ligand Density
The concept of quality by design (QbD), although not new, has presented implementation opportunities and challenges to both the bioprocessing industry and regulators (1,2,3,4). Tools such as design of experiments (DoE), cause and effect analysis, and multivariate analysis provide for systematic risk assessment and help identify critical quality attributes (CQAs) and critical process parameters (5,6,7). QbD is intended to ensure that manufacturing processes make products that meet predefined quality parameters. Key elements in defining such parameters (quality profile)…
How QbD and the FDA Process Validation Guidance Affect Product Development and Operations, Part 1
Earlier this year, the FDA issued its long-awaited process validation guidance document, which had been several years in development. It is well written and effectively articulates what many progressive companies have been thinking and doing for years. But many people in the industry are asking questions: How will it affect our process development programs? How will it affect the submissions and licensure of our products? And how will it aid in our commercial operations? Or will it have…
Imaged Capillary Isoelectric Focusing for Charge-Variant Analysis of Biopharmaceuticals
Analyzing charge variants of therapeutic proteins is critical for characterizing and monitoring quality attributes of antibodies. Charge variants include deamidation, formation of N-terminal pyroglutamate, aggregation, isomerization, sialylated glycans, antibody fragmentation, and glycation at the lysine residues. In some cases, such changes affect binding, biological activity, patient safety, and shelf life. The biopharmaceutical industry relies on tools such as ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), isoelectric-focusing gel electrophoresis (IEF), and capillary equivalents such as capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) and imaged CIEF (iCIEF)…
Analysis and Immunogenic Potential of Aggregates and Particles
The number of biotherapeutics on the market has rapidly increased during the past several years. Such proteins commonly exhibit a concentration-dependent propensity for self-association, which often leads to the formation of aggregates that range in size from nanometers (oligomers) to microns (subvisible and visible particles). Publications two years ago focused attention on the potential immunogenicity of active-ingredient aggregates ((1,2,3,4). The authors discussed lack of specificity of compendial measurements and inability of other current methods to address potential effects…
Limited Analytical Technologies Are Inhibiting Industry Growth
Progress in the development of bioprocessing-related assays and analytical instrumentation has not kept up with industry demands. The industry wants analytical technologies (especially for single use) to help improve productivity, optimize and monitor processes, provide real-time product quality control, and characterize biosimilars. These trends are reflected in our recent survey data. Over 30% of biopharmaceutical manufacturers and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) have expressed demands for improved assays and analytical equipment (1). BioPlan Associates’ eighth annual survey of biopharmaceutical…