Among the many steps and technologies required in bioprocessing, some of the most expensive ones might be surprising. For instance, one economic analysis of the biopharmaceutical market reported that filtration accounted for 22.3% of the equipment and consumables sector of biopharmaceutical processing.
Much of that expense comes from the frequency of filtration in bioprocessing. For example, this report emphasized that “filtration is a basic requisite across all stages of bioproduction.” That use includes upstream and downstream applications, such as sterilizing cell culture media and removal of contaminants, respectively.
Actions by leading companies involved in bioprocessing also reveal the importance of filtration. For example, Thermo Fisher Scientific recently announced the $4.1 billion acquisition of the purification and filtration business of 3M spinoff Solventum. In that announcement, Marc Casper, Thermo Fisher’s CEO, stated that this acquisition “will expand and add differentiated capabilities to our bioprocessing portfolio to better serve our customers in this rapidly growing market.”
Changes in the field of bioprocessing also necessitate research on new applications of filtration. Recently, Jianquan Luo, PhD, a professor in the State Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues reviewed the application of membrane technology to remove viruses from biopharmaceuticals.
These scientists noted: “Membrane-based sterilization and virus removal have become an essential approach for Quality Control and Quality Assurance in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.” Nonetheless, these scientists pointed out that more work remains to be done in using membrane-based technologies to ensure the safety of biopharmaceuticals. As Luo’s team noted: “Despite the high virus/bacterium removal rates, the complex interactions between biomolecules and membranes may lead to occasional microbial breakthrough.”
Advances in treatments can also require improvements in filtration. As one example, Gail Dutton reported on work at the University of Sheffield to apply tangential flow filtration, which is a membrane-based technology, to the production of mRNA-based biotherapeutics.
In addition to improving cell lines and advancing mRNA-based technologies to make more biopharmaceuticals, scientists and bioprocessors still need to purify those products. In many cases, filtration provides that purification. Consequently, filtration will continue to consume a considerable portion of the budget behind any biopharmaceutical.
The post Focusing on Filtration appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Much of that expense comes from the frequency of filtration in bioprocessing. For example, this report emphasized that “filtration is a basic requisite across all stages of bioproduction.” That use includes upstream and downstream applications, such as sterilizing cell culture media and removal of contaminants, respectively.
Actions by leading companies involved in bioprocessing also reveal the importance of filtration. For example, Thermo Fisher Scientific recently announced the $4.1 billion acquisition of the purification and filtration business of 3M spinoff Solventum. In that announcement, Marc Casper, Thermo Fisher’s CEO, stated that this acquisition “will expand and add differentiated capabilities to our bioprocessing portfolio to better serve our customers in this rapidly growing market.”
Changes in the field of bioprocessing also necessitate research on new applications of filtration. Recently, Jianquan Luo, PhD, a professor in the State Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues reviewed the application of membrane technology to remove viruses from biopharmaceuticals.
These scientists noted: “Membrane-based sterilization and virus removal have become an essential approach for Quality Control and Quality Assurance in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.” Nonetheless, these scientists pointed out that more work remains to be done in using membrane-based technologies to ensure the safety of biopharmaceuticals. As Luo’s team noted: “Despite the high virus/bacterium removal rates, the complex interactions between biomolecules and membranes may lead to occasional microbial breakthrough.”
Advances in treatments can also require improvements in filtration. As one example, Gail Dutton reported on work at the University of Sheffield to apply tangential flow filtration, which is a membrane-based technology, to the production of mRNA-based biotherapeutics.
In addition to improving cell lines and advancing mRNA-based technologies to make more biopharmaceuticals, scientists and bioprocessors still need to purify those products. In many cases, filtration provides that purification. Consequently, filtration will continue to consume a considerable portion of the budget behind any biopharmaceutical.
The post Focusing on Filtration appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.