At the onset of modern-day biotechnology, products typically fell into two distinct categories, the traditional high volume, low value products (e.g. beer and industrial enzymes) that had come to characterize the biotechnology industry, and low volume, high cost products. Recombinant proteins, the result of technological advances in molecular biology, have come to typify these latter products. Recombinant protein therapeutics have been hugely successful, potentially outstripping production capacity and continue to drive much of the biotechnology. Meanwhile, many recombinant proteins, those characterized as research tools and reagents, are governed by a price-volume relationship typical of industrial enzymes. In a competitive environment, they are fast becoming commodities ā price sensitive, packaged as kits, coupled to instrumentation, and relying on heavy marketing and brand recognition. Ominously, the advantage protein therapeutics have enjoyed with patent protection and regulatory constraints on production is being threatened as patents expire and competition from generics increases…
BioProcessing Journal Posts
In general, the industry has gone through another of its realignment periods, where much was learned, but a lot of restructuring and refocusing took place. Driven by the need to keep the doors open, small to medium sized firms had to do some severe belt tightening, or completely redefine themselves as to technologies, products, and personnel. Many of the larger firms reevaluated their product pipelines, and then made the changes they felt were necessary to assure future revenues, or to make themselves attractive merger partners. Numerous large mergers took place with some that were the largest the biopharmaceutical industry has ever seen. In addition, several medium-sized companies merged, or otherwise found strategic alliances that energized their product pipelines, or simply provided the cash they needed to keep going. Antibody products did very well with a number of blockbusters receiving license approval in 2003…
Xcyte Therapies has recently introduced a bioreactor-based process for the GMP manufacture of autologous activated T cells, Xcellerated T Cellsā¢, for clinical trials. Using a single customized disposable 20-L Cellbagā¢ with a working volume of 10 L on a customized Wave Bioreactor platform (Wave Biotech, Bridgewater, NJ), the Xcellerateā¢ III Process has supplanted the 60-L static Xcellerate II Process that used 60 bags cultured in a standard incubator. Compared to the Xcellerate IIā¢ Process, the Xcellerate III Process significantly reduces the overall labor, the number of culture containers, bag spikes, and sterile connections required, as well as reducing the process volume and the cost of goods, while more than quadrupling the final cell density and doubling the facility capacity. These process improvements are achieved without compromising final product composition or quality…
Cation exchange chromatography (CEX) is a versatile method for separation of proteins based on exploiting differences in positive electrostatic charges. In CEX, proteins are bound to the negatively charged stationary phase (cation exchangers) and then eluted using a salt gradient. Typically, the liquid-phase pH in CEX is lower than the isoelectric points (pI) of the proteins. CEX has been used to monitor various post-translational modifications such as glycosylation, deamidation, phosphorylation, truncation, oxidation, C-terminal and N-terminal clipping, and N-terminal cyclization. Some of these variants may exhibit different bioactivity. Therefore, it is important to characterize protein variants and monitor the stability of these variants throughout the process of drug discovery, development, and manufacture. Characterization of complex proteins such as antibodies, has traditionally been performed using slab gel-based techniques such as isoelectric focusing (IEF). This technique is qualitative and time consuming. It also generates large quantities of chemical waste from the staining process…
Over the past decade there has been a steady increase in the number of biotherapeutics requiring high doses and long term administration. Most notable among these are monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and fusion proteins comprised partially of antibody molecules. Column chromatography is a commonly applied purification method for downstream processing of biotherapeutics, and there is considerable pressure to process much greater volumes at a faster rate. For recombinant proteins and MAbs, a variety of chromatographic methods are employed, including affinity, ion exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and to a lesser extent, immobilized metal affinity and gel filtration. Improving process control for chromatography operations is essential for biopharmaceutical manufacturers to process larger volumes and overcome capacity shortfalls. As the past ten years have seen increasing volumes of MAb-based drugs, there have been significant innovations to address growing productivity requirements. Dominant among these has been high throughput media capable of isolating product at faster rates than previously achievable…
The safety of our food supply is a major public health concern for consumers, government regulatory agencies, and the food industry. Earlier generations may recall when fresh produce was largely domestic and seasonal. Today we live in a global marketplace, where fresh fruits and vegetables may be on the vine overseas one day and on our grocerās shelf the next. Although this has provided more yearround variety of foods for the consumer, a lack of uniformity in established agricultural standards and practices among international trading partners (e.g., sanitary issues and inspections) may ultimately lead to deleterious health effects. This is evident in the number of food-borne illness outbreaks and associated deaths. Negative economic consequences also result through lost wages and productivity, and health care costs. The impact can be far greater in developing nations. Therefore, refining domestic and international food safety policies is at the forefront of many government agenciesā efforts toward protecting the public health. Reducing the number of such incidences has become a priority for government regulatory agencies and the food industry…