by Peter Bosch, Bjorn Lundgren, and Christian Kaisermayer, PhD
Volume 7, Issue 2 (Summer 2008)
A basic engineering study has been performed to evaluate three different strategies for the production of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Cells are expanded in suspension culture and are then inoculated into either fed batch or perfusion culture for MAb production. The first strategy, which is also the current industry standard, uses fed batch culture with the cells in suspension in a stirred tank fermenter. The second strategy uses perfusion culture with the cells immobilized on Cytopore™ microcarriers in a stirred tank fermenter. The third and final strategy is perfusion culture with Cytoline™ microcarriers in a fluidized bed fermenter. Perfusion cultures, while leading to a somewhat lower product titer, were characterized by a much smaller equipment footprint. This in turn led to a >30% reduction in investment costs and a 12% reduction in MAb production costs calculated over five years of depreciation and ten years of production time…
Citation:
Bosch P, Lundgren B, Kaisermayer C. How to Construct a Monoclonal Antibody Factory: A Comparison of Production Costs in Fed Batch and Perfusion Culture with Microcarriers. BioProcess J, 2008; 7(2): 30-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.12665/J72.Lundgren