TAP Biosystems announced it has installed a 48 bioreactor version of its advanced micro bioreactor system (ambr) system in one of Europe’s largest pharma companies. The system will assist in predicting how antibody-expressing cell lines will behave in large scale bioreactors.
The ambr system, which closely replicates the characteristics of bioreactors at micro scale (10–15 ml working volume), was purchased by this major European pharma, following an on-site evaluation of ambr using their antibody-expressing CHO cell lines. The system was chosen after their process development scientists demonstrated scalability of culture performance between ambr, laboratory and manufacturing scale bioreactors.
The ambr 48 system can investigate the effects of 48 different combinations of cell line and culture conditions. It also enables testing of up to four different temperature and stirrer speeds in just one real-time run, with significantly less operator time than it would require to perform similar experiments in lab scale bioreactors. The company now plans to use ambr to help select the best antibody clones for use in production runs.
Dr Ralph von Strandmann, TAP Biosystems' European Sales Manager explained: “With the increasing interest in developing biosimilars and antibody drugs in Europe, progressive pharma companies in this region recognise that our ambr technology can provide a substantial competitive advantage in reducing time to trial.”
Dr von Strandmann concluded: “We are pleased that this leading European pharma has chosen the ambr 48 system to help select optimum clones and culture conditions. Their confidence shows that other biopharm companies looking to shorten their therapeutic antibody development timelines can also benefit from accessing the ambr technology.”
Source: TAP Biosystems