Summary

The biopharmaceutical industry faces the challenge of reducing costs while also adopting animal-component–free cell-culture systems. We have observed that although chemically defined cell culture media can be applied to biomanufacturing processes, they are expensive and often do not provide optimal performance compared to standard media supplemented with sera. This article shows that full strength or diluted CDM supplemented with plant-derived protein hydrolysates or recombinant proteins such as rHSA provide cost-effective alternatives that can significantly enhance the production titers of the protein of interest. Supplements also can work synergistically to further enhance cell-culture performance.

In addition to the beneficial performance results shown here for CHO and SP2/0 cell lines, other examples have been reported in the literature for CHO,^8,10–14 SP2/0,¹⁶ and many other animal host cell lines used in biomanufacturing, including BHK,^{21,22,24,30,31} VERO, ^{23,24,26,27,29} HEK,^33–35 MRC,³² NS0, CEF, insect lines like Sf9 and High Five,^36–40 and plant cells.^42–45 These examples show the broad applicability of the approach outlined in this article.

JAMES BABCOCK, PHD, is the global applications manager of cell culture at the Sheffield Bio-Science Center for Cell Culture Technology. CHRISTOPHER WILCOX, PHD, is the global market segment manager of cell culture and HANS HUTTINGA is the global business development director of cell nutrition, both at Sheffield Bio-Science, a Kerry Group Business, Beloit, WI, 800.833.8308, christopher.wilcox@kerry.com

References

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HYBRIDOMA

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VACCINE LINES

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HUMAN CELLS

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INSECT CELLS

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PLANT CELLS

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