Flow-through anion-exchange (AEX) chromatography is used frequently in biopharmaceutical purification processes for reduction of net–negatively charged host-cell proteins (HCPs) and viruses as part of a validated viral clearance strategy (1, 2). AEX column chromatography is the technology most often used for electrostatic viral clearance, particularly in commercial-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing, for which columns have a long-established history of reliable and well-understood performance (3). Still, validation of HCP and viral clearance by AEX columns in biopharmaceutical processes involves complexities that contribute significantly…
Author Archives: Jonathan F. Hester
Anion-Exchange Chromatographic Clarification: Bringing Simplification, Robustness, and Savings to MAb Purification
Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are the most prominent and successful therapeutic proteins in the pharmaceutical industry. More than 35 MAbs have been approved to treat a range of conditions, and hundreds more are in development (1, 2). Once, the upstream cell culture process was considered the bottleneck to producing high antibody doses required for treatment, but recent advances in cell culture technology have boosted antibody titers to the range of 5–10 g/L (3). That increase in productivity has shifted focus onto…