Building A Resilient Supply Chain For Complex IVD Reagents (Or Proteins)

Contributors: Ashley Pillay BSc, Jeremy Jerasi MSc

For IVD manufacturers, securing a reliable supply of complex antigens and enzymes can be just as important as assay performance. Native biological sources can introduce availability and consistency concerns, while conventional recombinant systems may struggle with proteins that require complex folding, post-translational modifications or multi-subunit assembly.

These challenges can result in low functional yields, added purification steps and costly process re-optimization during scale-up. Alternative expression strategies can help address these limitations by matching the production platform more closely to the biological requirements of the target protein. One approach, the EntoEngine® platform, uses transgenic Drosophila melanogaster and modular insect farming to support difficult-to-express proteins across different production volumes.

Read the article to explore the factors that can help IVD developers build a more resilient protein reagent supply chain.