Therapeutic proteins manufactured in cellular systems contain residual DNA derived from host cell substrates used in production. Risk assessment of the residual host cell DNA is necessary, as some of these DNA sequences may be potentially infectious or oncogenic. Oncogenic potential lies in transmission of the activated oncogenes to subjects receiving the product, thereby inducing oncogenic events. Therefore, it becomes essential for drug manufacturers to show clearance of genomic DNA (oncogenic sequences as well) throughout production processes and to confirm low levels of residual DNA in the final drug substance. This study attempted to estimate the oncogenes in the total residual DNA using a highly sensitive, specific, and robust method—quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Routinely, total residual DNA is estimated using either the 18S ribosomal (r)DNA gene or Alu equivalent multicopy gene sequence as qPCR targets. We have determined the copy numbers of these qPCR targets along with the oncogene (Ras gene) and housekeeping genes (ACTB and GAPDH) and established a ratio of their presence in protein samples. Another objective of the study was to estimate the level of oncogenes from several in-process step samples in the manufacturing and purification process and check the clearance of total residual DNA including oncogenes. Upon quantification, the proportions of oncogenes present were one tenth of the quantified residual DNA levels (Ras gene:18S RNA) in the purification stage samples, providing information that the therapeutic protein product was safe from the presence of oncogenes in residual DNA by a factor of ten…
Tag: <span>biopharmaceuticals</span>
Biobanking is a critical component to realizing the promises of translational research and personalized medicine. The proper collection, processing, storage, and tracking of human biological samples allows researchers to better link molecular and clinical information, which in theory, allows for the development of more targeted therapies for patients. Realizing the scientific potential of well-annotated, properly preserved sample collections has led to the proliferation of large-scale biobanks by biopharmaceutical companies, academic organizations, governments, and non-profit research organizations. To this point, conservative industry projections estimate that in the United States, there are at least 300 million tissue samples in biobanks with an estimated accrual rate of 20 million samples annually…
Batch processing has long been the predominant bioprocessing paradigm, both up- and downstream. Bioprocessing fluids are processed incrementally, piped as a bolus or transferred via vessels from one process and piece of equipment to the next. This continues to work well, including a number of technological advances resulting in improvements that continue to make bioprocessing more efficient. Upstream and overall process yields are essentially doubling about every five years, with this largely driven by improved cell lines, expression systems and genetic engineering, culture media, and equipment. Among the technologies now gaining increasing adoption and market share for biopharmaceutical manufacture is continuous (bio) processing, with perfusion currently the leading technology, in terms of adoption. The use of incremental, one-step-at-a-time, classic batch processing in biopharmaceutical manufacture is different than most other major products manufacturing and high-tech industries, where processing is generally more continuous. In this context, the move toward more continuous processing in manufacturing is a common characteristic of industries starting to reach maturity. Continuous processing is exemplified by assembly lines, and petroleum refining with processing involving a rather continuous flow of the material being manufactured from one unit operation to the next. Continuous processing generally follows and eventually replaces incremental manufacturing…
As a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) in this environment, it is essential for hameln pharma to deliver goods to their customers reliably, in terms of quantity, delivery time, and quality. Therefore, the topic of quality assurance plays a huge role— for both final packaged units as well as for bulk products. After a long-term analysis of the bulk product weighing process, hameln pharma’s objective was to significantly streamline the time-consuming process of manual counting and visual inspection. Moreover, taking cGMP standards into account, they wanted to optimize their existing process in order to remove any possibility of incomplete package volumes. Katrin Strasser, hameln pharma’s operational excellence expert, explained that: (1) packing box weights fluctuated with humidity levels during their manufacture; (2) labels for product packages varied; and (3) the actual number of items in a box carton were not always consistent
This paper examines FMEA as a QbD tool. If FMEA’s strengths are used and weaknesses understood, it can be effectively used within a QbD feedback algorithm to identify, analyze, prioritize, and remediate biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing risks…
This article reports the average titers and yields currently attained with commercially manufactured biopharmaceuticals expressed by microbial systems such as E. coli and yeasts. A recent BioProcessing Journal article comparably covered results from the first phase of this study concerning historical titers and yields attained for commercial-scale biopharmaceutical production using mammalian cells (e.g., CHO). As with this prior mammalian component, public domain data concerning titers and yields attained with microbially manufactured products were obtained using all available sources.
The production of biopharmaceutical drugs typically involves a biological expression within a bacterial, yeast, or mammalian cell expansion system. Getting to the final product requires multiple purification steps, from primary clarification to the final formulation and sterile filtration. The aim of the initial purification steps is not to purify the stream perfectly but rather, to prepare the stream for finer and more specific purification steps further downstream. Apart from efficiently removing contaminants, the clarification stages also need to maintain high product recovery whilst being consistent and robust.