Business

eBook: The Commercial Expression Systems Market — What Has Changed in the Past Decade

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A decade ago, BioPlan Associates prepared the findings of its 2008 directory of expression system technologies that were being promoted or considered likely to be suitable for commercial licensing for biopharmaceutical manufacturing (1). Due in part to the relatively slow advances in this critical area of bioprocessing, this study remains perhaps the only directory of biopharmaceutical-relevant expression systems available for licensing. Here I discuss aspects of related bioprocessing technologies that have and have not changed in the past decade. Expression…

May 3, 2018

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

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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:…

April 30, 2018

Cost Analysis of Cell Therapy Manufacture: Autologous Cell Therapies, Part 2

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In part 2, we continue to analyze manufacturing costs of an autologous cell therapy. A typical process involves the expansion and activation of cells derived from a single patient, which is currently very labor-intensive. To date, there is little published information on overall production costs (1). In part 1, we used a software modeling platform to identify opportunities for potential cost savings. We developed a baseline model of a cell therapy manufacturing process using the production of autologous dendritic cells…

April 20, 2018

Your Brand Is the Patient’s Experience

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The future success of biopharmaceutical businesses will depend at least partly on their ability to create meaningful brand experiences from the start of a drug program. By “brand,†I don’t mean logos and taglines. I’m talking about meaningfully unique experiences that directly affect clinical and patient needs — specifically, to address the growing demand for self-administered injectable therapeutics. Whether you are a biosimilar developer trying to carve out differentiated value or a market leader looking at your patent protection in…

April 19, 2018

Cost Analysis of Cell Therapy Manufacture: Autologous Cell Therapies, Part 1

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Cell therapies are a growing area of interest for the treatment of a number of indications such as neurological, cardiovascular, and ophthalmological maladies that are refractory to other more conventional drug therapies. A number of cell-based therapy products currently are undergoing clinical trials. The most common target is oncology, which represents 46% of all cell-based therapies through the use of traditional blood-cell and immune-cell–based therapies. For treatment of various cancers, immune cells, lymphocytes (natural killer cells, T cells, and B…

March 27, 2018

Sourcing Clinical-Grade Human Tissue: Considerations for Supporting Cell Therapy Development and Production

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The rapidly developing global cell therapy market poses numerous industry challenges for drug development, process scalability, commercialization, and patient safety. The processes of procuring donated human tissue for clinical applications are fraught with many technical, ethical, and legal issues. Allogeneic cell therapies involving primary cell types such as bone marrow mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (BM-MSCs), hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs), and T and natural killer (NK) cells for immunotherapy applications are especially challenging because of the vigorous process of screening…

March 27, 2018

Back to Basics for Biotech: Driving a Culture of Quality and Compliance with Practical Communication Techniques

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The robust regulatory environment surrounding biotechnology and bioprocessing demands a comprehensive current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) culture of quality, compliance, and absolute adherence to policy. Employees need to be engaged in their work, with a laser focus on meeting stringent specifications and operating under tight controls. A misstep in quality or compliance can lead to hefty fines, legal concerns, regulatory retaliation, and reputational damage. Communication and stakeholder engagement are critical to aligning organizations and driving the right culture in highly…

March 23, 2018

Reverse Translational Medicine: The Promising Future of Failure

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The drug development landscape is awash with candidates that have shown enormous promise and efficacy in preclinical models but failed when administered to clinical trial subjects. Although such failures occur for different reasons, one of the most pervasive causes is the inability of preclinical models to recapitulate human physiology accurately. Despite advances with both in vitro and in vivo models, improving those toward a more accurate avatar of the human physiological process remains a challenge. Central to that effort will…

March 23, 2018

Market Research and Life Sciences: From Laboratory to Market

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Start-ups in life sciences are constantly reshaping and redefining markets. As such, these companies must understand their unique markets because potential partners and investors seek out companies with such understanding. In my experience, it is not unusual for entrepreneurs to believe that they already know their market. They might have been active in their market for a long time, or they might have operated in similar industries and are making parallel assumptions. But markets are fluid environments, and they change…

February 16, 2018

Extend the Life of Your Facility: Flexibility Allows for Biopharmaceutical Process Innovation

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For an industry built on constant change, there’s a surprising disconnect between the continuous drive for innovation and the inflexible facilities that house biopharmaceutical operations. Some of today’s facilities are built for today’s use with little thought about tomorrow’s. The typical approach for a new process or drug coming to market is to start with a brand-new building and permanently embedded equipment designed around that specific process. That approach is expensive and unsustainable. New bioproduction facilities can cost US$500 million…

February 14, 2018