Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) said today it will integrate Repligen’s XCell™ ATF cell retention control technology into SSB’s BIOSTAT® STR large-scale single-use bioreactors to create novel perfusion-enabled bioreactors, through a collaboration whose value was not disclosed.
The collaboration plans to create a single control system for 50 L to 2,000 L bioreactors used in perfusion cell culture applications. The single interface is designed to control cell growth, fluid management and cell retention in continuous and intensified bioprocessing and, ultimately, simplify the development and cGMP manufacture of biological drugs, SSB said.
The companies will also partner to equip SSB’s recently launched ambr® 250ht perfusion single-use mini bioreactor system with Repligen’s KrosFlo® hollow fiber filter technology. The bioreactor system will be sold by SSB as a complete single-use assembly. According to SSB, the design is intended to conserve hollow fiber filter technology across scales, enabling customers to fast track development and scale up their cell culture perfusion processes.
“The collaboration with Repligen will result in easy-to-implement, high-performance and perfusion-ready bioreactors ranging from process development to commercial manufacturing scale,” Stefan Schlack, SSB’s head of marketing, said in a statement. “Sartorius Stedim Biotech has continuously expanded its integrated upstream portfolio over the past years with a focus on robust and scalable, automated single-use solutions, optimized for high-cell-density applications.”
Added Christine Gebski, VP of product management at Repligen: “The integration of our market-leading XCell ATF control technology with SSB’s high-performance bioreactors offers a simplified perfusion-enabled bioreactor solution for end users to develop cell culture processes more quickly and implement perfusion more efficiently.”
Ping Xu, Ph.D., a senior scientist in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s biologics development and supply division, told GEN last month that since switching to SSB’s ambr 250 system for clone selection and early-stage biologics process development, ne employee using the disposable technology can achieve in a day what a team of three employees using the firm’s previous approach would have accomplished only after several days.
