Pfizer researchers assess ways to improve biologics manufacturing

THE PHARMACEUTICAL industry is making great strides in developing cleaner and more efficient syntheses—that is, greener chemistry—for manufacturing small-molecule drugs. But how green are manufacturing processes for biopharmaceuticals, such as monoclonal antibodies, peptide hormones, and vaccines? And can those processes be greener?

Those are questions Sa V. Ho and colleagues at Pfizer's Global Biologics unit, based in Chesterfield, Mo., are trying to answer. The researchers have set out to determine the type and amount of resources required and the wastes generated by mammalian-cell-culture and microbial fermentation processes that are used to make therapeutic proteins. Their goal is to promote cost-saving process improvements that are also environmentally friendly. In doing so, they hope to stimulate other pharmaceutical companies to join them in developing metrics that illuminate the degree of greenness in biologics manufacturing processes, Ho says.

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Chemical & Engineering News

American Chemical Society