GEN What is the importance of this agreement between Sartorius Stedim Biotech and SAFC for biopharmaceutical manufacturers?
Jornitz: It really represents a one-stop shop. Clients no longer need to fish around for media or buffer and then introduce this material into disposable bags by themselves. The agreement will make life easier for end users and ease the burden of media or buffer preparation.
As I mentioned earlier, the ultimate goal for both companies is to develop with the client optimal upstream and downstream processes to achieve the best expression rates and still retain a high yield on the downstream side.
Lehr: Right now, both companies sell their product lines into the biomanufacturing and pharmaceutical processing space. Although SAFC is expert in creating media for growing cells and supporting production, we don’t necessarily have a lot of expertise regarding optimal filtration of that media or concerning some of the production issues involved with downstream processing.
Working with Sartorius Stedim Biotech, we can use the two product lines together to help customers develop a more consistent manufacturing environment. We will be able to offer sourcing advantages and technical expertise from two different angles. For example, for an operation like filtration, we can add what we know from a media design standpoint and Sartorius Stedim Biotech can bring in its knowledge about the actual filtration steps. The result will be a better solution for customers so that they have a more optimized process.