Most problems in vaccine and cell therapy production occur between upstream and downstream stages of bioprocessing “because that is where there is the least coordination,” Aleš Štrancar, CEO of Slovenian chromatography firm BIA Separations told this publication.
“Activities within cell culture are very well coordinated and integrated. Activities within purification groups are very well coordinated and integrated. However, there is still not a high degree of awareness on either side about how issues from one side effect, or are affected, by issues on the other side.”
He described the interface between upstream and downstream as “the last frontier in bioprocess manufacturing,” and as such, his firm has teamed with Austria’s Nuvonis to help advance manufacturing efficiency.
The partnership agreement will combine Nuvonis’ Vero cell bank with BIA’s CIM (Convective Interaction Media) monolithic chromatographic products as an offering to customers looking for a single source in their process development.
The Vero cell bank offers a number of advantages for vaccine and cell therapy developers, Štrancar said, including a serum-free culture, and fully tested GMP master and working cell banks.
Meanwhile, BIA’s monolith-based downstream products are “high capacity, high resolution, high productivity, and low shear,” with capacity for large products up to a 100 times higher than other types of media, he said.
“Their low-dispersion architecture enables higher resolution. High flow rates without compromising other performance features enable shorter process time. And laminar flow avoids the turbulent shear limitations that can damage products with other types of chromatography media, means higher yields of the product potency.”