Business

Myths, Risks, and Best Practices: Production Cell Line Development and Control of Product Consistency During Cell Cultivation

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Health authorities are requesting substantial details from sponsors regarding practices used to generate production cell lines for recombinant DNA–(rDNA) derived biopharmaceuticals. Authorities also are asking for information about the clonality of master cell banks (MCBs) and control strategies to minimize genetic heterogeneity. Such requests are prompted by recent reports indicating “nonclonality†for certain production cell lines. To address these and related issues, the CASSS CMC Strategy Forum on “Production Cell Line Development and Control of Product Consistency During Cell Cultivation:…

September 19, 2018

Worldwide Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity Analysis: Growth Continues Across the Board

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While the growth in biopharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in developed, major market countries is continuing its slow and steady climb, developing regions often are seeing double that growth rate. Over the past eight years, as detailed in the “About the Data†box, our company’s index of the top 1,000 biomanufacturing facilities (1) has tracked and ranked bioprocessing facilities worldwide in terms of known or estimated bioprocessing capacity (cumulative onsite bioreactor volume) number of biological products manufactured at clinical scale commercial scale…

September 15, 2018

Seamless Transition from R&D to Manufacturing

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Fast and cheap: These criteria are becoming ever more urgent drivers for manufacturers of biologics, faced with increased scrutiny on the costs of developing novel drugs, the lengthy timelines for delivering these drugs to patients, and the tightening competition to capitalize on new targets. The challenge for manufacturers is further heightened by the expectations to deliver on quality as well. Although development and production of molecules such as monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have greatly benefited from the “platformization†of core technologies…

September 14, 2018

Accelerated Development, Manufacturing and Monitoring of Viral Vectors

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The goals of process intensification are to enhance production while shortening timelines, lessening contamination and environmental risks to products and operators, and reducing operating footprints. Previous publications from Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) have highlighted key elements of such activities. In this report, the authors extend the scope of this discussion to tools and technologies that enable intensification of viral vector manufacturing processes. The first article summarizes presentations from a 2018 seminar for viral vaccine manufacturers. Three guest presentations highlighted the…

August 29, 2018

BioProcess Insider BPI Theater @ BIO 2018 Interviews – Tuesday

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BioProcess Insider brings the news as it breaks. At the BPI Theater @BIO, editor Dan Stanton conducted a series of interviews live on stage to report on the latest movements in the biomanufacturing industry to start each busy day of dealmaking in Boston. Below we summarize his DAY ONE conversations with a number of biopharmaceutical executives on Tuesday 5 June 2018. You can watch the full interviews online at www.bioprocessintl.com/BIO-Theater-2018. Andy Topping, Chief Scientific Officer, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies Gene therapies show…

August 24, 2018

Therapeutic Modalities: Business and Manufacturing Strategies Influencing Decisions to Develop One Therapy Type Rather Than Another

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Moderator Patricia Seymour, with John Lee, Michael Kaufman, Jennifer Michaelson, and Weichang Zhou Following introductions of the panelists and their companies’ technologies, moderator Patricia Seymour began the discussion about challenges related to choosing different modalities and addressing related manufacturing concerns. Targeting Modalities Michaelson began by describing how Cullinan Oncology selects its targets and modalities, how it approaches those early phase decisions, and what its primary driver is to get into the clinic as quickly as possible. She talked about challenges…

August 23, 2018

Speed Matters: Gene to GMP in Nine Months

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Igor Fisch, chief executive officer, Selexis, SA Fisch first posed this question: “How can we accelerate the number of drugs going into the clinics?†Speed matters because the faster a drug can get into clinical testing, the faster it can make it to market. He discussed both Selexis and KBI Biopharma and their collaboration, which started in 2012 when KBI developed a heterodimer purification process. JSR acquired both companies with an interest in entering the life sciences business. Selexis has…

August 23, 2018

It’s All About Speed: Getting to Early Development Clinical Trials Quickly

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David J. Kenyon, senior director of global scientific and technical affairs, Patheon (Thermo Fisher Scientific) Kenyon has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology and vaccine industries. He began his career with Johnson and Johnson, where he managed the production of the first monoclonal antibody (MAb) approved for human therapy. He joined Patheon in 2014. Kenyon received his PhD from the Rutgers School of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Patheon is now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo…

August 23, 2018

Using New Technologies to Compress Timelines, Increase Capacity, and Reduce Costs: Speed — Why, When, and How

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Moderator Tom Ransohoff, with Jorg Thommes, Chris Love, Rajesh Beri, and Geoffrey Hodge For biopharmaceuticals to mature as a process industry, companies need to embrace the ability to adopt new technologies and bring new operational approaches to their biomanufacturing facilities. In this roundtable about adopting and implementing new technologies in the biologics industry, moderator Tom Ransohoff stressed the importance of understanding drivers for adopting new technologies and of developing enabling processes that factor in associated risks and challenges. He offered…

August 23, 2018

Capacity Strategies: The Strategies Behind Choosing Between Large-Scale and Single-Use Investments

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Moderator Dan Stanton, with Weichang Zhou, Jenifer Wheat, Roger Lias, and Jim Vogel Single-use technologies (SUTs) are now prevalent within bioprocessing, but does this spell the end of industry’s historic reliance on stainless steel and fixed facilities? This roundtable was formed to discuss the wealth of investment in single-use (SU) equipment and flexible manufacturing solutions by contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) over the past few years, pitting that against what looks like a resurgence in fixed-cost stainless steel plants…

August 21, 2018