Presented at PepTalk 2017: San Diego, CA
Niket Bubna, Principal Scientist, Process Development, KBI Biopharma
Single-use Technologies And Continuous Processing
(Advancing Bioprocessing Through Technological Innovation)
Risk Mitigation Strategies For Single-use Technologies
Study on the Impact of FOCUS-PDCA Management Model on the Disinfection Qualit...
Scalability of a Single-Use Bioreactor Platform for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing
1. Niket Bubna
Principal Scientist, Process Development, KBI Biopharma
Durham, NC
Presented at PepTalk 2017: San Diego, CA
Single-use Technologies And Continuous Processing
(Advancing Bioprocessing Through Technological Innovation)
Risk Mitigation Strategies For Single-use Technologies
2. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2013-14 2015 2016
New Products Mfg Batches
Cell Culture Manufacturing in
KBI Biopharma (Durham, NC)
Reference: Medicines in Development (Biologics). 2013 PhRMA Report
3. • New biopharmaceuticals being developed at a record rate
• Rapid development and manufacturing for FIH studies is
needed to support the rate of discovery
• Tox and FIH studies require smaller quantity of product
• Commercial needs can be met with 2000 L-scale
bioreactors leveraging high titer cell culture processes
• Need for a readily available plan and plant
• Plan includes process, equipment and supply chain
• Equipment and supply chain are available
• Scalable SUB platform needed
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
4. Reference: Shukla, A., Mostafa, S., Wilson, M., Lange, D. Vertical Integration of Disposables in
Biopharmaceutical Drug Substance Manufacturing, Bioprocess International, 10(6), 34-47, 2012.
6. • Single-use bioreactors are being used for
clinical manufacturing and even commercial
manufacturing
• Clinical manufacturing
» Wave for ~2 decades
» Stirred tank 2000 L-scale since 2009
• Commercial manufacturing
» Amgen, Singapore
• Multiple SUB platforms are available
• HyClone HyPerforma
• Sartorius BIOSTAT STR
• Millipore Mobius
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
7. • Minimal cleaning requirements
• Quick turnaround leading to higher plant capacity
• Flexibility of manufacturing multiple products
• Fewer requirements for changeover
• Reduced risk of cross-contamination
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
8. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
• Agitation Rate
• Homogenous mixing is important to provide uniform environment
around the cell
• Power input per volume is commonly used to normalize agitation
rate based on the power input to the impeller
• Gassing Strategy
• Variables: Sparge type, sparge hole size and gas flow rate
• Use of VVM (vessel volumes per minute) or the ratio of volumetric
gas flow to the liquid volume is used; it depends on the actual
culture volume, allowing operations at multiple volumes
9. • Combination of three key factors:
• Power input per volume
• Volumetric gas flow rate
• Bioreactor geometry
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
𝑃𝑃
𝑉𝑉
=
𝑁𝑁𝑝𝑝 𝑁𝑁3
𝐷𝐷𝑖𝑖
5
𝜌𝜌
𝑉𝑉
where,
Di = Impeller diameter [m]
N = Agitation speed [s-1]
Np = Impeller power number [-]
P = Power [W]
V = Volume [L]
𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 =
𝑄𝑄𝐺𝐺
𝑉𝑉
where,
QG = gas flow rate [m3/s]
V = Volume [L]
VVM = Vessel volumes per minute [min-1]
Parameter XDR-50 SUB XDR-200 SUB XDR-2000 SUB
Impeller Diameter 0.2159 m 0.2159 m 0.4191 m
Impeller Power Number 1.50 1.15 0.72
Pitched-blade Impeller 3 blades at 40° 3 blades at 40° 4 blades at 40°
Turn-down Ratio 2.2:1 5:1 5:1
Aspect Ratio 1.5:1 1.5:1 1.5:1
11. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
Project Cell Line Type Cell Line Vendor Basal Medium
Doubling Time
(hours)
Forward Processing
VCC (10^6 cells/mL)
Passage
Duration
Can Platform
Approach Be Used?
A CHO-DG44 A & KBI OptiCHO / Dynamis 25-35 2-3 3-4 days No
B CHO-K1 B & KBI ProCHO 5 21-24 1.7-2.5 3 days No
C-F CHO-S A & KBI Dynamis 14-20 3-7.5 3-4 days Yes
G Proprietary C BalanCD Growth A 18-21 3.5 3 days Yes
H CHO-DG44 D BalanCD Growth A 16-17 4 3 days Yes
I CHO-GS E FortiCHO 25-40 None 2-4 days No
J CHO-GS F CD CHO 20-24 3 3 days No
K Proprietary C BalanCD Growth A 15-20 2-6 3 days Yes
L CHO-GS G Client Medium 37-42 3 3-4 days No
M CHO-GS F OptiCHO / FortiCHO 22-23 3 3 days Yes
N
Proprietary
(CHO-K1)
H
OptiCHO /
PowerCHO-GS
20-30 3.5 4 days No
O Proprietary C BalanCD Growth A 17-21 3.5 3 days Yes
P CHO-DG44 E ExCell CHO 30-40 1.5 2-3 days No
Q-S CHO-DG44 A & KBI OptiCHO 20-30 2.5-4.5 3-4 days Yes
T CHO-DG44 D ExCell ACF CHO 21-24 4 3-4 days No
U Proprietary I OptiCHO 25-35 1.5-5 3-4 days Yes
14. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
Rapid process development to support IND filing & FIH Studies
• Top Candidate Clone to final cell culture process in 3.5
months
• Applied platform process (medium-feed and process parameters)
• Required feed media change to support increase in titer
• Process scale-up and cGMP manufacturing completed in 5
months
• Right First Time without a non-GMP Engineering Run
• 5 cGMP runs at 2000 L-scale carried out successfully
Proprietary CHO Cell Line
17. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
Process Transfer from a Client for a mAb
• Final cell culture process transferred from client CMO
• Gaps were identified in transferred process
• Development runs were necessary to establish process conditions
• Production bioreactor harvest day chosen based on product quality
• Re-optimized process was scaled-up to 2000 L-scale
• Successfully implemented strategy of harvesting bioreactor based
on product quality target
CHO-K1 Cell Line
20. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
Application of Platform Cell Culture Process for 4 mAbs
• Expedited process development using an un-optimized
platform process
• Pre-determined medium-feed combination and bioreactor
process parameters
• Key objective was speed and consistency rather than quantity of
product
• Process transferred to manufacturing scale without non-
GMP Engineering Run for all 4 mAbs
• Gene to IND filing in less than 14 months
CHO-S Cell Line
21. • HCCF supply runs for purification and
analytical method development are
typically carried out in 50 L SUB using a
stable pool of cells and a platform cell
culture process
• This approach ensures that compatibility
of cell line and process with SUB bags is
tested early in development
• Wave Cellbags for inoculum expansion
• Xcellerex SUB bags for production-stage
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
CHO-S Cell Line
Stable Pool
HCCF Supply Run
(50 L SUB)
Clone Selection
Process Optimization
Platform Process
Assessment
Process Confirmation
(50 L SUB)
Scale-up
(200 L SUB)
Expedited Cell Culture Development
Top 3
Clones
Top
Clone
SUB performance
evaluation
Wave or Seed
bioreactor performance
evaluation
24. Development and Application of Platform Cell Culture Process for Recombinant
Vaccine Proteins
• Challenges during process development:
• Low productivity & stable-clone selection
• Cell viability drop during production-stage
• Product cleavage
• Challenges during initial scale-up attempts (Cell Line A):
• Lack of scalability from glass bioreactor to SUBs
» Cell growth and cell viability were significantly divergent
• Challenges were overcome; increasing robustness and reproducibility of the
platform process (shown by Cell Line B)
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
CHO-DG44 Cell Line
25. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
ViableCellCount
Days
200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale
200 L-Scale 15 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
3 L-Scale
Glucose
Days
200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale
200 L-Scale 15 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
3 L-Scale
CellViability
Days
200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale
200 L-Scale 15 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
3 L-Scale
Lactate Days
200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale 200 L-Scale
200 L-Scale 15 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
3 L-Scale
Cell Line A CHO-DG44 Cell Line
26. • Observed poor cell growth and drop in cell viability upon
scale-up in single-use bioreactor bag
• Two key hypotheses
• Leachable/extractables
• Adsorption of nutrients from basal medium
• Steps taken to mitigate both potential risks
• Pre-treatment of bioreactor bag (wash) prior to medium addition
• Addition of feed media and supplements to overcome depletion
of nutrients
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
CHO-DG44 Cell Line
27. Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
ViableCellCount
Days
100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale
3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
ProductConcentration
Days
100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale
3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
Glucose
Days
100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale
3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
Lactate
Days
100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale 100 L-Scale
3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale 3 L-Scale
Cell Line B CHO-DG44 Cell Line
28. • Single-use bioreactor scale-up platform has been successfully developed
and implemented for a variety of cell lines, cell culture processes and
biopharmaceutical products
• This single-use bioreactor platform ensures that process scale-up
remains smooth and seamless; and cell culture process development can
focus on key product quality or titer requirements
• KBI Biopharma is uniquely placed with the right knowledge base and
experience to serve needs of the biopharmaceutical industry
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
29. • Abhinav Shukla
• Sigma Mostafa
• Cell Culture Process Development
• Brian Baker
• Lynwel Cunanan
• Bryan Howarth
• Kathryn Olson
• Shaunak Uplekar
• Analytical Development & Testing
• Jimmy Smedley
• Amanda Hoertz’s Group
• Nate Oien’s Group
Jan 2017PepTalk 2017
• Manufacturing &
Manufacturing Sciences
• Carnley Norman
• Aaron Anders
• Ian Bales
• Seth Moye
• Ronnie Nichols