Biotech company GeminiBio partnered with Asahi Kasei Bioprocess America last month to more efficiently produce buffers for use in drug manufacturing.
Buffers are used to maintain the pH of a solution as ingredients are added when formulating medicines. However, producing them is often time consuming, resource intensive and creates significant bottlenecks in the biomanufacturing process, GeminiBio said in a release.
Through the partnership with Asahi Kasei Bioprocess, the companies will combine two buffer management solutions to boost productivity and cost savings.
Typically, buffers are mixed in large stainless steel vats that take up several square meters of space in a facility, Manager of Products and Brand Strategy at Asahi Kasei Bioprocess Steve Foy said in an email. From these “tank farms” buffers can be extracted and used in the biomanufacturing process.
GeminiBio CEO Brian Parker added in an email that this method is “expensive to develop and maintain.” Another option is to ship buffers as premade powders that need to be hydrated on-site, but that can introduce safety concerns for operators and the manufacturing environment.
Together, the companies will improve an existing alternative process called Inline Buffer Formulation, which makes specific buffers as needed using single-use bags or containers, Foy said.
As part of the improved process, Asahi Kasei Bioprocess’ inline buffer management system MOTIV, which had relied on manually-hydrated concentrates, will now use GeminiBio’s newly developed pre-mixed buffer concentrates. Doing so, Parker said, removes the potential safety hazard and operator error that comes with mixing the premade powders on-site.
“Buffers are not the ‘flashiest’ element of biomanufacturing, but they are absolutely crucial to success,” Foy said. “While our IBF system has been in-market for more than a decade, the industry has just started to take notice within the last few years of the possible productivity gains. GeminiBio’s solution is well-timed and works remarkably well with MOTIV.”
