Various systems are used for production of biopharmaceuticals, including bacteria, yeast, mouse ascites, and animal cell culture. Each production system has its own set of risk factors for infection by viruses and their potential transmission in the final product. Viral contamination in products can arise from the animals themselves, from environmental sources, from the starting cells, or from materials introduced during the production and purification procedures. Methods have been developed for the prevention and control of these risks. The strategy used to minimize the risk of viral contamination combines several levels of viral safety…
BioProcessing Journal Posts
The K562 cell line is a human myelogenous leukemic cell which has been used by several groups, including ours, as a vehicle for cell-based vaccines and immuno-gene therapies. The attractiveness of K562 cells is the ease with which they can be cultured, plus the fact that they express very low levels of MHC proteins. Low MHC expression facilitates the use of these cells in patients with different MHC backgrounds, and it may improve the in vivo survival of the cells by delaying immune rejection. Based largely on these properties, we have been developing the K562 cell line as a universal platform for expressing cytokines, tumor antigens, and other immuno-modulating proteins…
Risk management deals with planning for, and reacting to, hazard or loss. The regulatory authorities are focusing on the issues associated with establishing alternative sources of raw materials, especially as they are noticing a number of related quality problems in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Supply chain management for critical raw materials used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing is an appropriate subject for risk management. This paper analyzes five important areas in risk management as it applies to the supply chain for critical raw materials…
