Accelerating CHO Manufacturing: From 14-Day Fed-Batch To 10-Day Intensified Fed-Batch

Production bioreactors can constrain capacity, making shorter process durations essential for improving manufacturing flexibility and cost efficiency. A conventional 14-day fed-batch process for a CHO-K1 Herceptin cell line was converted to a 10-day intensified process using an N-1 perfusion strategy, standard equipment, and the same medium across both stages. The intensified approach achieved comparable production levels four days earlier while maintaining key product quality attributes, including N-glycan profile, Man5 content, charge variants, and aggregation. Scale-up from Ambr 250 to 5 L and 50 L DynaDrive bioreactors also demonstrated reproducibility across scales. The resulting reduction in reactor occupancy can increase annual throughput, strengthen scheduling flexibility, and help manufacturers and CMOs defer additional capital investment.

Learn how to intensify fed-batch production with minimal process changes while preserving product quality.