Bioreactor titers for monoclonal antibody (MAb) processes have increased significantly since the dawn of the biopharmaceutical industry, yet such gains have instigated bottlenecks for critical high-volume raw materials used in downstream processing, such as buffer solutions. As downstream purification is required for most, if not all, biopharmaceutical products, buffers and their preparation are topics that concern nearly every drug company. But those topics rarely receive direct attention. This BPI eBook explores what factors prompted the current buffer bottleneck and what…
Supply Chain
Don’t Be Forced to Accept a Bad Deal During the COVID-19 Crisis
Your boss’s boss just gave you the mandate to procure equipment, components, and raw materials for development and production of a new vaccine. Your goal is to get those as soon as possible — in addition to securing a massive volume for the future. You and your company are in the spotlight, and under significant pressure to deliver. You simply cannot fail. Yet many other players in your industry find themselves in the very same situation. Demand is exploding, and…
Evolving Business Models to Meet the Future of Healthcare
Yourway provides integrated supply-chain solutions for the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. We exceed traditional offerings to provide customized support that includes warehousing and packaging, project management, planning and optimization guidance, comparator sourcing, ancillary-supply sourcing, forecasting, and returns/reconciliation management. Our single–specialized-provider approach offers clients a high level of convenience and efficiency that translates into quality, speed, and operational improvements. A Growing Global Footprint As we introduce new added-value solutions, expand our global footprint, and continue investing in infrastructure, technology, training,…
The Green Imperative: Part One — Life-Cycle Assessment and Sustainability for Single-Use Technologies in the Biopharmaceutical Industry
Much has changed since large-scale single-use biomanufacturing equipment was introduced some 15 years ago. Since then, these materials have become accepted and established in production and downstream bioprocessing. Concerns about the environmental impact of single-use (SU) biomanufacturing equipment have become more prevalent as our environmental awareness has increased and related concerns have become more urgent (1). For example, many recommendations and even laws have emerged regarding plastic convenience packaging and products (2, 3). People have become more sophisticated in appreciating…
Making Media a Priority: An Interview with Susan Riley of Advanced Bioprocessing
Susan Riley is vice president and general manager of Advanced Bioprocessing. It’s been a year since Thermo Fisher Scientific’s acquisition of the Advanced Bioprocessing business from Becton Dickinson (BD). Why did Thermo Fisher see the Advanced Bioprocessing (AB) business as a good fit with its life-science offerings? AB has a significant portfolio in premium supplements for cell culture and microbial fermentation. The AB business was seen as a good fit for several reasons: It goes hand-in-glove with Gibco media, for…
Bioprocess Intensification – Fast, Flexible, and Efficient Solutions
Propelled by single-use systems (SUSs), biopharmaceutical companies are approaching the ideal of continuous bioprocessing. In addition to improving process integrity and decreasing production costs, SUSs have enabled exciting ways to configure, operate, and evaluate manufacturing steps. Sensitive process analytical technologies (PATs) and discriminating data analysis platforms are supplementing those developments, helping process engineers and operators to study and modify workflows in unprecedented ways. The goal now is to intensify: to apply increasingly nuanced process knowledge and growing technological capability in…
Single-Use Technologies: Accelerating Bioprocess Design with Key Insights from the Experts
Companies turn more and more to single-use technologies (SUTs) to mitigate production challenges — and with good reason. SUTs clearly decrease conventional costs while increasing process integrity. Yet as the writers in this compilation suggest, SUTs are now making possible new, exciting ways to configure, operate, and evaluate biomanufacturing. In this compilation, BioProcess International gathers key insights from biopharmaceutical industry experts at Sartorius Stedim Biotech to explore how SUTs can realize high-quality yet cost-effective end-to-end bioprocessing. The studies herein identify…
From Supplying Components to Providing Total Solutions: Overviewing Supplier Side Capabilities
Only a thin line now separates biopharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers because the latter are increasingly becoming the process knowledge owners in the biopharmaceutical industry. As a result, suppliers are racing to become the most efficient “total solutions” provider. In the 1990s, leading players in the industry such as Pall, Millipore, and Sartorius all supplied membrane filters for upstream and, to some extent, downstream processes with their crossflow and final filtration offerings. Pharmacia (which became GE Healthcare) was the major force…
Supply Chain Solutions for Cell and Gene Therapy Companies
Stakeholders across the supply chain stress that quality of starting material will be key to the success of cell and gene therapies. This is a topic that has created issues in the past, is puzzling the industry presently, and is likely to cause more problems going forward. This topic was front and center at the 2019 Phacilitate Leaders World and World Stem Cell Summit in Miami FL, with presentations focusing on supply chain solutions to address these complex challenges; cell…
The Role of Single-Use Polymeric Solutions in Enabling Cell and Gene Therapy Production – Part 3: Best Practices for Supplier Selection, Qualification, and Validation to Ensure Supply Chain Security
Bio-Process Systems Alliance (BPSA) was formed in 2005 as an industry-led international industry association dedicated to encouraging and accelerating the adoption of single-use manufacturing technologies used in the production of biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. Corporate members include plastic equipment suppliers, service providers, and users in the biopharmaceutical industry who share this mission. A key focus of BPSA’s core activities is to educate its members and others through sharing of information and development of best practice guides that help suppliers, users, and…