Single-Use Stirred-Tank Bioreactors: A Commercially Viable Strategy for Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Representing Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutic Solutions, Alex Klarer spoke to the BPI Theater at BIO on Tuesday, 4 June 2019, about ways to improve patient access to revolutionary T-cell immunotherapies. A feasible solution, Klarer contended, is to develop a form of stirred-batch bioculture that reduces the entire manufacturing process while still maintaining high expansion rates with low media use. To establish this as a possibility, Klarer described his firm’s experiments with small and large batches on a Distek cell culture platform. Using this system, Hitachi yielded higher mass transfer rates while keeping cost of goods (CoG) in check. These findings suggest significant cost savings for drug developers and patients alike.