QA/QC

Deciphering Nutritional Needs in Bioprocess Optimization: Targeted and Untargeted Metabolomics with Genome-Scale Modeling

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Microbiology has risen as a major part of global industry over the past three decades. Industrial microbiology, biotechnology, biopharma and now biointelligent production systems (1) embrace a wide range of manufacturing platforms and product areas involving microbes, animal cells, and plant cells — as well as whole organisms. The multibillion-dollar applications of biomanufacturing display great variety. They include microbial-based production of such valuable metabolites as amino acids, vitamins, solvents, and organic acids as well as larger products such as enzymes,…

October 20, 2022

eBook: BPI Lab — Contemporary Approaches to Data and Organization

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Laboratories provide essential support functions in biopharmaceutical development: from cell-line development through process validation, environmental monitoring, and preclinical analyses . . . to product characterization, formulation, and stability testing. Regulatory compliance is important across the gamut of such laboratory work. Modern companies are implementing lean concepts that facilitate organization and workflows in laboratory operations. And companies around the world can use the latest technology to ensure data integrity for their analytical results. Included herein are two articles that originally appeared…

October 18, 2022

eBook: Drug-Delivery Devices — Measurement-System Analysis Using Gauge R&R Studies

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When a biological product requires a specialized delivery device, the resulting combination product can introduce new types of quality evaluation. Product development brings together regulatory requirements for biologics and drug-delivery systems, and for many people on the biopharmaceutical side, that includes a number of unfamiliar terms, processes, and procedures. Among those are gauge repeatability and reproducibility studies for measuring variations that arise from measurement devices and the operators using them. This eBook introduces the concept of attribute-data gauge repeatability and…

September 28, 2022

Opportunities in the Field of Host-Cell Proteins Part 1: Their Sources and Implications for Protein-Drug Efficacy

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Biopharmaceuticals are produced in genetically modified cells; thus, they contain process-and product-related impurities. Those deriving from manufacturing processes include host cell DNA/RNA, viral DNA/RNA, cellular debris, lipids, and host-cell proteins (HCPs) (1). Mammalian, bacterial, fungal, insect, and plant cell lines have been used to overexpress recombinant proteins. Currently, the most frequently used hosts for biomolecule synthesis are Escherichia coli and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. E. coli has been used to produce heterologous proteins since the beginning of the biotechnology…

September 28, 2022

Bringing Gene-Therapy Product Quality Into Focus

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Regulatory agencies are scrutinizing gene-therapy product quality more closely than ever, yet such therapies still are produced in small batches and at high costs. Thus, drug companies are struggling to make safe and efficacious gene therapies available to patients. In an April 2022 presentation, Tim Kelly (chief executive officer of Oxford Biomedica Solutions, OXB Solutions) emphasized the importance of addressing both process output and product quality when manufacturing adenoassociated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies. Such an approach requires deep expertise and…

September 28, 2022

Overcome Costly Hit-Finding Challenges Using an Integrated Platform

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Thomas Meins, global head of protein production, HitS Unit, WuXi AppTec. Meins reflected that WuXi AppTec established the HitS Unit 15 years ago to facilitate drug discovery for protein biologics. Today, the unit provides a rapid and cost-effective platform for protein generation, screening, biophysical and biochemical analysis, structural determination, and “hit” confirmation. As of July 2022, the unit has produced assays for more than 1,500 recombinant proteins, including multisubunit complexes, DNA- and RNA-modifying proteins, and membrane proteins. Around 1,200 have…

August 24, 2022

Pressure Vessels for Biomanufacturing: Basic Considerations for Cleaning and Process Compatibility

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Pressure vessels are enclosed containers used to contain liquids, vapors, and gases at pressures that are significantly higher or lower than the ambient pressure of their surroundings. Equipment such as bioreactors, holding tanks, mixing tanks, separators, and heat exchangers all are examples of pressure vessels. As such, they form an integral part of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Apart from pressure containment itself, a key challenge in building pressure vessels is making them meet the high purity and cleanability requirements of bioprocessing. As…

June 21, 2022

Certified Reference Mixtures in Extractables Screening of Polymeric Materials: For Container–Closure Systems and Single-Use Equipment

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Plastics have been used for decades in container–closure systems (CCS) for drugs and in single-use (SU) manufacturing equipment for biopharmaceutical processing. Biomanufacturers must comply with national and international laws and regulations that require proof that use of such polymeric materials is safe (1, 2). That necessitates testing for potential biological responses and interactions with drug substances. Comprehensive extractables and leachables (E&L) studies also are required for potential release of undesired compounds from polymers. Extractables tests are performed on materials under…

May 20, 2022

Process Intelligence: Gene Therapy Case Study Shows That the Journey to Improved Capabilities Starts with One Step

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The product development team at a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) was working on a high-priority drug-substance project for a key client. The material was crucial to that client’s early stage clinical trial, with an immediate value over US$500,000 to both the client and the CDMO. Unfortunately, the bioreactor used in the upstream process — a transfection unit operation for an adenoassociated virus (AAV) vector — had developed an intermittent problem that could force it to shut…

April 19, 2022

Smart, Real-Time Quality Insights Boost Life Sciences Manufacturing

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The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on restrictive business processes, information silos, and poor supply-chain visibility in many sectors. In biopharmaceutical manufacturing, for example, difficulties associated with product-quality management have been exposed and starkly felt. However, public healthcare measures over the past 18 months have put physical distance between team members, thereby hampering the usual form-filling, manual sign-offs and spreadsheet-based recordkeeping associated with monitoring traditional manufacturing processes. In some cases, a lack of formal face-to-face discussions in the workplace…

March 16, 2022