The partnership will combine Sartorius’ filtration and liquid handling technologies with SAFC’s cell culture production, processing and purification systems in a service that the firm’s hope will help single-use technologies reach their full potential.
Sartorius’ executive VP, Reinhard Vogt, suggested that: “With this agreement, we are moving one step closer to the reality of a "totally disposable factory" with integrated technologies and control systems.
Archie Cullen, SAFC’s VP of sales, was also positive about the collaboration. He said that it “enhances our position as the cell culture partner with the widest range of highly customized products and services.”
A key focus of the service will be the generation and analysis of data from the combined filtration and buffer technologies.
The companies will also provide customers with information on media and buffer extractability and leachability, both of which are critical to ensuring the quality of manufacturing operations and the safety of the drugs being produced.
SAFC will also use Sartorius’ technology to optimize the storage and production of its cell culture medias in a process that, the firm believes, will better serve its roster of biomanufacturing customers.
SAFC’s partnerships
The Sartorius collaboration is the latest in a series of deals that SAFC has signed recently in an effort to boost its offering.
In April, the firm signed an agreement with culture firm Vivalis to develop a new media that allows the latter group's commonly used virus producing EB66 cell line to grow at higher densities.
And last month SAFC teamed up with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals to bolster its raw materials supply and manufacturing capability.
Potent compound certification
In related news, SAFC has been deemed as both competent and efficient in the handling of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) under SafeBridge Consultant’s potent compound safety certification scheme.
SafeBridge, an occupational health and safety consulting group for the drug industry, inspected SAFC’s facility in St Louis, Missouri. The certification applies to both antibody drug conjugate manufacturing and process development operations.