Long single-stranded RNA oligonucleotides are increasingly necessary for a variety of genomic pathway research and drug discovery studies. However synthesizing and purifying long RNAs can pose unique challenges due to their sequence composition, secondary structure, and applied modifications. Here we explore how Horizon Discovery is leveraging Dharmacon’s 20+ years of RNA synthesis experience to solve the challenges of long RNA oligo synthesis to address unmet research needs.
Bio-Process Systems Alliance (BPSA) was formed in 2005 as an industry-led international industry association dedicated to encouraging and accelerating the adoption of single-use manufacturing technologies used in the production of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. Corporate members include plastic equipment suppliers, service providers, and users in the biopharmaceutical industry who share this mission. A key focus of BPSA’s core activities is to educate its members and others through sharing of information and development of best practice guides that help suppliers, users, and…
Much has been published on improvements and advances in many individual technologies for biomanufacturing. If you take a comprehensive look at the field, however, you find overlap, muddling, and even contradiction about which particular processes or aspects of technological development should be designated properly as process intensification. Although the industry is addressing such distinct goals as improved manufacturing yield, product quality, and cost-effectiveness, the names of initiatives commonly applied to accomplish those goals overlap at best. Such ambiguity and lack…
Antibody production platform processes have been widely adopted in biomanufacturing, but many unit operations are not suitable for integration and automation. Here we describe the work of integrating unit operations by transforming a column operation to a more robust cassette format. We have selected a biomolecule-friendly buffer (phosphate) to eliminate, or delay, the performance of a circulating tangential flow ultrafiltration/diafiltration (UF/DF) operation, so the harvest-to-purified-bulk process can be integrated, resulting in a single, direct-flow operation, that reduces the batch process…
Current biomanufacturing is driven to pursue continuous processing for cost reduction and increased productivity, especially for monoclonal antibody (MAb) production and manufacturing. Although many technologies are now available and have been implemented in biodevelopment, implementation for large-scale production is still in its infancy. In a lively roundtable discussion at the BPI West conference in Santa Clara, CA (11 March 2019), participants touched on a number of important issues still to be resolved and technologies that are still in need of…
Operating a successful global supply chain to deliver single-use systems (SUS) for utilization in the biopharmaceutical industry is complex. In his insightful article, Claudio Catallo, Head of Global Supply Chain Management FMT at Sartorius Stedim Biotech, details the company’s intelligent approach to supply chain management and the models it uses. He also explains how expert teams and integration of digitalization across many sales, manufacturing, and distribution sites maintain the operational excellence required to support supply and demand in an ever-changing…
The global market for biopharmaceuticals continues to grow at a rapid pace, with a 9.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) predicted over the next eight years. That translates into more than $500 billion in projected growth. So it is no surprise that biopharmaceutical manufacturers are investing heavily in new facilities, technologies, and pipelines for manufacturing drug products. Even so, the need to prevent contamination places stringent handling and packaging requirements on biomanufacturers. Sterilizing equipment often requires steam autoclaves and dry…
George S. Weeden, Jr., is a scientist in global manufacturing science and technology (MSAT) process science at Sanofi. We recently chatted about the topic of continuous chromatography. What are the general reasons for companies to consider continuous chromatography? And what are the caveats? The main driver for considering continuous chromatography is reducing the cost of goods (CoG). Continuous chromatography improves productivity (mass of product per volume of stationary phase over time) and thus increases throughput or decreases volumes of stationary…
Vaccines save millions of lives every year, and the continuing increases in the number of administered doses and worldwide distribution of vaccines for long-standing diseases such as polio and malaria have contributed to the improvement in public health. Vaccine developers and manufacturers are partnering with private and government agencies to raise global vaccine uptake by addressing remaining challenges with production capacity, distribution, safety, and accessibility. And the implementation of new technologies such as virus-like particles and cell/DNA-based vaccines are helping…
Recent approvals of oligonucleotide therapeutics are a clear signal for optimism for this product class. This is supported by the strength of the current pipeline which has over 180 active oligonucleotide clinical programs in various phases of development. Improvements in analytical technology and know-how have played a key role in enabling suitable characterization and quality control strategies to overcome the difficulties associated with testing these complex molecules. Despite the lack of dedicated regulatory guidelines related to characterization or quality control,…