Development and implementation of a manufacturing scale virus filtration step for monoclonal antibody production

BIOT 104

Judy F Hsii and Chris Dowd. Bioprocess Development - Late Stage Purification, Genentech, Inc, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA, CA 94080
Biopharmaceutical products manufactured from mammalian cells must demonstrate that they are safe and free of endogenous retroviruses. Regulators require at least two orthogonal methods of clearing these retrovirus particles, whether it be physically removed or inactivated as part of the manufacturing process. The virus filter functions as a physical barrier to putative retroviruses while allowing the antibody product to flow through. Development of the virus filtration step for the production of a monoclonal antibody was carried out at small scale to define operating parameters in manufacturing. Parameters examined included flow rate, concentration, temperature and the use of a guard filter. Scale-up of the virus filtration step from lab-scale to pilot scale to manufacturing scale will be discussed.