Author Archives: Mwai Ngibuini

A Stirred, Single-Use, Small-Scale Process Development System: Evaluation for Microbial Cultivation

Mammalian and microbial protein production platforms have been used for over 30 years to produce a number of successful biologic drugs, including monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), recombinant proteins, and therapeutic enzymes (1). Most biologics are produced by mammalian cell lines, with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells being the most widely used. However, microbial cells also are used to express recombinant therapeutic proteins, and almost 30% of currently approved biologics are produced by Escherichia coli bacteria (2). With worldwide biologics sales >56…

Automated Mini Bioreactor Technology for Microbial and Mammalian Cell Culture: Flexible Strategy to Optimize Early Process Development of Biologics and Vaccines

The use of mammalian and microbial cells in the production of biologics and vaccines is well established, and the majority of the top 10 drugs are now manufactured in this way. There is a significant and growing pipeline of new biologics (1), which in combination with increased pressure on cost reduction and generic competition from biosimilars (2), means that many biopharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to improve productivity in their development laboratories to ensure that upstream processes are efficient…