Updating Biologics Manufacturing: Using Modern, Single-Use Powder Handling Reduces Time to Market and the Chance of Contamination August 2018

Biopharmaceutical companies are striving to produce biologics more efficiently with a lower cost point and fewer employees. Most small-scale media and buffer operations are carried out with small bottles of liquid media. But as processes are scaled up to manufacturing levels, that is no longer a viable option. Costs of shipping liquid are simply prohibitive, so the industry has migrated to using media and buffer in powder form. In fact, 90% of cell-culture media and buffer for sale is now in powder form, which needs to be hydrated, mixed, and packaged to be used in bioprocesses. This “just in time” hydration allows for increased compliance and process efficiency.

Making biologics safely also means designing a process to reduce contamination risk at every step, even where it may not seem obvious to do so. One often overlooked step is mixing media and buffer powder during a process. It is still common to see people pouring open buckets of powdered media into a mixing tank, with powder flying into the air and around the room. That leads to a dirty environment that is hard to clean and validate. We have found a way to make this process seamless, easy, and safe by using a system that is the state-of-the-art solution in single-use facilities.

Just fill out the form below to view the full PDF and learn more.