💡 Perfusion cell culture enhances productivity by sustaining cell densities and enabling continuous harvests.
🔬 Researchers at ZHAW demonstrated scalable perfusion processes using a 250 mL bioreactor integrated with ATF technology, achieving comparable results to larger setups.
♻️ This innovation supports sustainable biomanufacturing, reducing waste while meeting rising demand for monoclonal antibodies.
Introduction:
This article discusses the critical role of small-scale perfusion cell culture systems in enhancing the commercial manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which represent a significant share of biopharmaceutical revenues. It highlights how advances in small-scale bioreactor technology can accelerate process development and scale-up while addressing growing sustainability concerns in the biopharma industry.
- Perfusion cell culture enhances volumetric productivity and reduces costs in mAb manufacturing by maintaining higher viable cell densities and enabling continuous product harvest.
- Researchers from Zurich University of Applied Sciences have shown that small-scale systems can effectively replicate the performance of larger commercial perfusion systems.
- Case studies revealed successful methodologies for both N-1 perfusion and continuous perfusion at the 250 mL scale, achieving cell densities and productivity comparable to larger systems.
- Linear scalability of perfusion systems is emphasized as crucial for regulatory compliance and consistency across different reactor sizes, with specific parameters maintained constant throughout.
- Adopting small-scale systems aligns with sustainability goals by utilizing less energy and resources, thus minimizing waste while meeting increasing demand in mAb production.
Conclusion:
The integration of small-scale perfusion systems into mAb manufacturing presents a promising solution to optimize production processes, enhance scalability, and fulfill sustainability targets. The findings from ZHAW underscore the potential for these systems to facilitate smoother technology transfer and data-driven decision-making as the biopharmaceutical sector continues to evolve.
