The cell therapy industry (CTI) is poised to grow rapidly over the next decade, treating millions of patients and generating annual revenues into the tens of billions of US dollars (1, 2). To meet that high-growth demand, large CTI system manufacturers (e.g., Corning, Nunc/Nalgene, and GE Healthcare) and leading contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs, such as Lonza) are developing and integrating new upstream technology platforms such as gas-permeable membranes and microcarrier-based bioreactors to significantly increase therapeutic cell culture productivity. As those…
Downstream Processing
Advocating an Evolution
In a 2006 report, the US Department of Health and Human Services hailed regenerative medicine as “the vanguard of 21st century healthcare” and “the first truly interdisciplinary field that utilizes and brings together nearly every field in science” (1). To fuel support for regulatory, legislative, and reimbursement initiatives in this new therapeutic class, a small group of scientists, life science business executives, patient advocates, and other experts formed the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM, http://alliancerm.org). Starting with 17 charter members,…
Performance of a Salt-Tolerant Membrane Adsorber in Flow-Through Mode
Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have become the most prevalent therapeutics in the biopharmaceutical industry. Their downstream purification typically involves protein A chromatography as a capture step followed by one or two additional chromatographic polishing steps. Additional unit operations dedicated specifically for viral clearance (e.g., viral inactivation and filtration) are added to ensure product safety. According to a survey of Amgen processes, after processing through a protein A column, only trace amounts of impurities such as Chinese hamster ovary cell protein (CHOP)…
Evaluation of a New Single-Use UV Sensor for Protein A Capture
As the adoption of single-use systems continues to expand beyond bags and tubing to complete process steps, a full range of sensing technologies will be needed to complement the resulting varied single-use applications. Single-use sensors must meet or exceed the performance of traditional sensing technologies in areas such as accuracy, response time, ease of use, control system integration, process compatibility, regulatory requirements, and cost. Single-use flow-through process sensors are currently available for pressure, temperature, flow, and conductivity. Here, we report…
Preformulation Development of a Recombinant Targeted Secretion Inhibitor
Our company carried out a preformulation study on a recombinant targeted secretion inhibitor (TSI) with contract research organization (CRO) Avacta Analytical. In this protein, the binding domain of botulinum toxin is replaced to broaden the toxin’s therapeutic potential and allow drug development to be targeted towards a specific disease. In our study, we took advantage of the high-throughput, microvolume protein analysis of Avacta’s Optim 1000 fluorescence and light-scattering instrument (which is distributed in the United States by Pall Corporation). It…
Vendor Voices: Flexible Manufacturing
One strong take-away message from BPI’s flexible facilities supplement (December 2012) is that there is no single road to achieving a flexible manufacturing process. The ability to quickly modify a unit operation, process line, or entire facility to accommodate change certainly depends on several factors. Flexibility is no longer exclusively linked to single-use systems for one specific operation. It connects facility design, staffing models, and revamped technologies. Vendors and suppliers are hearing first-hand what the industry wants in flexible operations.…
Rapid Detection of Pandemics
A Coronavirus — like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — is back in the headlines. On returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia in summer 2012, a Qatari national was struck down by a mystery respiratory illness. Because of inadequate diagnostic capabilities, the patient was transferred from Qatar to London for intensive-care treatment and diagnosis. The UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed infection with the same Coronavirus strain discovered by a Dutch team following the death of a Saudi national…
Comparison of Commercial Kits for Extraction of Residual Host Cell DNA
Expression of therapeutic proteins in cultured cells is a cost effective method for production of commercial quantities of a drug substance. However, the manufacturing and purification process of these products leaves the potential for DNA contamination from the host cells. Due to the theoretical potential for the transfer of oncogenes from the host cell, the WHO has set a residual host cell DNA limit of 10ng/dose in biologic therapeutics. Regulatory agencies have set allowable limits between 100pg/dose and 10ng/dose depending…
Improving Cell Culture Productivity with a SEGFLOW® Automated On-line Sampling and Feed System
A SEGFLOW® automated on-line sampling and feed system (SEGFLOW) was evaluated for its impact on Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture process performance in bench-scale stirred tank bioreactors. The SEGFLOW was integrated with a YSI® Biochemistry Analyzer and a nutrient feed pump allowing real-time glucose analysis and automated glucose feeding to be performed for the test batch. In contrast, a batch using daily manual sampling and bolus feed protocols, was performed as a control. For the SEGFLOW culture, media glucose…
New Core Bead Chromatography Medium Enables Group Separation and High Productivity Purification of Large Molecules
When large biomolecules such as IgM or influenza virus are purified, group separation with gel filtration is the most commonly used technique. Advantages of using gel filtration include the high purity and the high recoveries that can be achieved, while a drawback is the relatively low productivity. Captoâ„¢ Core 700 is a chromatography medium (resin) from GE Healthcare Life Sciences designed with core bead technology. The core bead technology enables double functionality for Capto Core 700 – size exclusion and…