Comparing Culture Methods In Monoclonal Antibody Production

By Stacy S. Willard, Amanda Suttle, et.al

Recombinant protein manufacturing with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells represents over 70% of the entire biopharmaceutical industry. More are coming in the future as many blockbuster MAb-based treatments reach the “patent cliff.” Indeed, process development and optimization are under way at many research and development (R&D) facilities as a number of companies race to develop biosimilars: highly similar copies of currently approved therapeutic hMAbs. 

In development of all pharmaceutical production processes, including those involving hMAbs produced by CHO cells, significant R&D time and dollars are invested to increase yields, reduce costs, and improve current bioreactor and bioprocess technologies. The objective of our research project was to compare the performance of batch, fed-batch, and perfusion processes, the three primary methods for hMAb production.