QA/QC

Critical Factors for Fill–Finish Manufacturing of Biologics

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Over recent decades, protein-based therapeutics have emerged as key drivers of growth in the pharmaceutical industry. Drug development pipelines have filled with biologics, and a handful of monoclonal antibody (MAb) products have become some of the best-selling drugs around the world. Production of biotherapeutics is often challenging because of the inherent instability of these large, complex molecules. Their fragile nature has forced manufacturers to change how bulk drug substances (BDSs) are handled and final drug product is formulated, sterile filtered,…

May 17, 2016

Clearance of Persistent Small-Molecule Impurities: Alternative Strategies

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Small-molecule impurities that bind to and copurify with protein biopharmaceuticals traditionally have been removed using bind-and-elute (BE) chromatography. However, that approach may be undesirable for a number of reasons. For instance, it may present a facility-fit challenge or provide a lower process yield than what is acceptable. A common scenario in which BE chromatography may be undesirable is in removal of unreacted conjugation reagents. Bioconjugates represent an important and growing class of pharmaceuticals that include PEGylated proteins, vaccines, and antibody–drug…

May 11, 2016

Best Practices for Critical Sterile Filter Operation: A Case Study

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A number of regulatory guidelines recommend preuse integrity testing of critical sterilizing liquid filters for aseptic processing (1–3). Before sterilization, a preuse test will confirm that a filter is installed properly and was not damaged during shipment or handling. Performing a preuse test after sterilization detects damage that may have occurred during the sterilization cycle. Testing after sterilization limits risk, so it is a practice applied based on risk assessment. Because it is perceived to reduce business loss risk, preuse…

May 11, 2016

Fucosylation of a Therapeutic Antibody: Effects on Antibody-Dependent, Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC) Potency and Efficacy

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Product quality attributes are critical for the functionality and manufacturability of therapeutic antibodies. They can be significantly influenced by a number of production process parameters, such as cell culture media. The composition of growth and feed media can influence antibody glycosylation, including the concentration of ammonia, glutamine, glucose, and metal ions (1, 2). Thus, it is critical during media development and optimization to monitor and consider a culture medium’s impact on glycosylation. For therapeutic antibodies whose mechanism of action includes…

April 12, 2016

Prepacked Chromatography Columns: Evaluation for Use in Pilot and Large-Scale Bioprocessing

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Time to market, resource requirements, cost, and flexibility are key considerations in designing purification processes suitable for manufacturing biopharmaceutical products. Over the past decade, many advances have been achieved in disposable processing systems that have allowed for increased processing at a lower cost. That is in part attributable to reductions in necessary resources, changeover costs, and cleaning-validation requirements. Large-scale, prepacked chromatography columns have recently become available for clinical and commercial manufacturing, and they represent a growing trend in the industry.…

April 12, 2016

Benefits of Using Tetradetector SEC to Characterize Membrane Proteins

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About 60% of all drug targets are membrane proteins. So understanding their structure and function as well as their interactions with drug candidates is critical to discovery and development of new therapeutic agents. Solubilization of these proteins is an essential precursor to in vitro studies of receptor function, structure, and activity. Purification and crystallization are important aspects. However, solubilization is complicated by the hydrophobic nature of a protein’s membrane-spanning part. Surfactant micelles and other stabilizing systems thus are used to…

April 12, 2016

Virus-Filtration Process Development Optimization: The Key to a More Efficient and Cost-Effective Step

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Size-exclusion–based parvovirus filtration is an important step toward drug product safety in biopharmaceutical production. However, once a virus filter is in place, and the required virus safety is ensured, less attention typically is paid to its optimization within the process. That might seem odd given that virus filtration can be one of the more expensive downstream processing steps ($/g protein processed). Most likely, the lack of attention can be attributed to aggressive timelines, limited process development resources, and the virus…

April 12, 2016

Detecting the Broad Spectrum of Pyrogens with the Human Whole-Blood Monocyte Activation Test

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In the early 20th century, some patients injected with the drug Salvarsan experienced febrile reactions due to contamination of the drug’s distilled water. That incident (involving the first effective treatment for syphilis) prompted not only the widespread use of injectable drugs, but also the need for pyrogen control. Pyrogens constitute a heterogeneous group of microbial and nonmicrobial substances that include those derived from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), respectively, as well as particles…

March 11, 2016

Defining Your Product Profile and Maintaining Control Over It | A Look Back with Emily Shacter

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This is a transcript from a Q&A interview with Emily Shacter, PhD, Consultant, ThinkFDA LLC (former FDA Scientist and Regulator). We will be talking today about the CMC Forum that was published back in 2005. We are revisiting it in the magazine to specifically update our understanding of how to maintain process control; understanding your process. In general, how do you feel the discussions in the four-part paper from 2005 has held up after 10 years? Emily: I think they…

February 11, 2016

Bridging Analytical Methods for Release and Stability Testing: Technical, Quality and Regulatory Considerations

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To monitor the control and consistency of products derived from biological systems, a broad array of analytical methods are used for biopharmaceutical release and stability testing. These methods include both classical and state-of-the-art technologies as well as new technologies as they emerge over time.During the life cycle of a product, several reasons can arise for making changes in existing analytical methods: e.g., improved sensitivity, specificity, or accuracy; increased operational robustness; streamlined workflows; shortened testing times; and lowered cost of testing.…

February 4, 2016