Manufacturing

“Hard Cellâ€: Potency Testing for Cellular Therapy Products

Potency testing is defined in 21 CFR Part 600.3(s) as “the specific ability or capacity of the product, as indicated by appropriate laboratory tests or by adequately controlled clinical data obtained through the administration of the product in the manner intended, to effect a given result†(1). Potency measurement is especially important for complex products such as cellular therapies (CTs). It is considered an essential aspect of the quality-control system for a CT drug substance and drug product. It is…

Revisiting Protein A Chromatography

Due to the molecular complexity of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and potential impurities in cell culture media before purification (host-cell proteins, DNA, media components) (1), subsequent downstream operations must consistently and reproducibly purify products to ensure safety and efficacy. The latest member of GE Healthcare’s MabSelect family is called MabSelect SuRe LX (2). As Table 1 shows, it has been developed using the same highly cross-linked agarose base matrix and protein A ligand as for other MAb affinity resins (Table 1).…

Quality Control During Manufacture of a Stem Cell Therapeutic

Development and manufacturing of a therapeutic stem cell product requires extensive quality control (QC) to ensure the identity, quality, and safety of the cells. Here, we describe our QC pipeline to optimize the manufacturing of our MultiStem adherent stem cell product, which is in clinical trial testing for stroke, acute myocardial infarction, inflammatory bowel disease, graft versus host disease, and solid organ transplantation. Screening for growth, marker expression, immunosuppression, and multipotent differentiation — in combination with “-omics†screening for gene…

Top 10 Regenerative Medicine Stories of 2011

    Geron Ends Stem Cell Programs in November: Big hope for a spinal cord injury trial, big loss for a field — the most discussed news of the year. Despite the company’s official comment citing a “purely business decision,†many professionals think that a “lack of impressive preliminary results†also played a role. The company is now seeking a partner to take over that trial. The effect on the cell therapy industry remains to be seen — but for…

Production of CGMP-Grade Lentiviral Vectors

Lentiviral vectors are important tools for gene transfer because of their ability to transduce a number of cell types without the need for host cells to be dividing (1, 2). As a result, investigators are using them as gene delivery vehicles in clinical applications (3,4,5,6). Although these vectors are used routinely in many research laboratories, large-scale production using current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) methods comes with a set of challenges that must be considered as more clinical trials using lentiviral…

Ensuring Aseptic Processing Through Quality By Design

Assurance of sterility throughout drug manufacturing is paramount to patient safety. Drug products must be free of contamination from microbes, particulates, and chemicals. To that end, we see continued and increased regulatory scrutiny, with adoption of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) standards outside the United States and the European Union. To consistently make microbe-free products, drug manufacturers must implement robust, validated processes that include sterilizing filtration. Sterilizing-grade filtration is used in a number of…

Sustainabilty Is Good for Business

James Cerruti is senior partner of strategy and research for Brandlogic, a full-service brand consultancy that published in June its 2011 Sustainability Leadership Report: Measuring Perception vs. Reality in partnership with CRD Analytics. The report measured actual and perceived performance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors for 100 major corporations. The report is based on a survey of key audiences who are considered to be “highly attentive” to ESG issues: investment professionals, purchasing and supply chain managers, and graduating…

Manufacturing Process Automation

When you think of futuristic manufacturing facilities and processes, robots might come to mind in a science fiction setting where humans are absent and production lines are directed by computerized drones that perform tasks we can’t even imagine today. As the pace of technology shuttles us swiftly into the real future, however, life-science manufacturers need to pause to examine the purpose of automation and how we can best steer its course. In bioprocess manufacturing and other industries, technology is growing…

Recommendations for Cell Banks Used in GXP Assays

Cells and cell-derived reagents form the basis of an operationally challenging class of test methods used in execution of product potency testing (stability and lot release), assessments of pharmacokinetic/ pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) profiles, detection of antidrug antibodies (ADAs) or neutralizing antibodies (NAB), and characterization and comparability testing of biopharmaceutical products. Frequently, cell-based assays provide the only measurement of the tertiary/quaternary structure of each batch of product at the time of lot release and during stability testing to assist in determining product…

Make Innovation Sourcing a Business Strategy

A recent study published by CAPS Research (the research arm of the Institute of Supply Management), underscores the importance of organizations adopting external innovation rather than relying solely on their internal research and development (R&D) efforts. Some companies set goals to increase revenues by adopting external innovation. Procter & Gamble, for instance, wanted to attain 50% of its revenues through external innovations — that is, licensing technologies — over five years (1). A joint project from CAPS Research with Western…