Chromatographic removal and heat inactivation of hepatitis B virus during the manufacture of human albumin.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the efficacy of the chromatographic and pasteurization steps, employed in the manufacture of human albumin, in the removal and/or inactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Most human albumins manufactured today are prepared from donor plasma by fractionation methods that use precipitation with cold ethanol. CSL Limited, an Australian biopharmaceutical company, has recently converted its method of manufacture for albumin from a traditional Cohn fractionation method to a method employing chromatographic techniques. A step-by-step validation of virus removal and inactivation was performed on this manufacturing process, which includes a DEAE-Sepharose(R) and CM-Sepharose(R) Fast Flow ion-exchange step, a Sephacryl(R) S200 High-Resolution gel-filtration step and a bulk pasteurization step where product is held at 60 degreesC for 10 h. HBV partitioning experiments were conducted on scaled-down chromatographic columns with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) as a marker, whereas the HBV model virus, duck HBV, was used to study the inactivation kinetics during pasteurization. Reductions for HBsAg through the three chromatographic steps resulted in a total log10 decrease of 1.5 log10, whereas more than 6.5 log10 decrease in duck HBV in Albumex(R)5 was achieved during pasteurization.

Chromatographic removal and heat inactivation of hepatitis A virus during manufacture of human albumin.

CSL Limited, an Australian biopharmaceutical company, has recently converted its method of manufacture for human albumin from a traditional Cohn-ethanol fractionation method to a method employing chromatographic techniques. Studies were undertaken to determine the efficiency of the chromatographic and pasteurization steps used in the manufacture of Albumex(R) (CSL's trade name for albumin) in removing and inactivating the potential viral contaminant, hepatitis A virus (HAV). The manufacturing process for Albumex(R) includes three chromatographic steps, two of which are ion-exchange steps (DEAE-Sepharose(R) Fast Flow and CM-Sepharose(R) Fast Flow) and the third is a gel-filtration step (Sephacryl(R) S200 HR). The final stage of the Albumex(R) process involves a bulk pasteurization step where product is held at 60 degrees C for 10 h. HAV partitioning experiments on the DEAE-Sepharose(R) FF and CM-Sepharose(R) FF ion-exchange and Sephacryl(R) S200 HR gel-filtration columns were performed with scaled-down models of the production-scale chromatographic Albumex(R) process. Production samples collected before each of the chromatographic steps were spiked with HAV and processed through each of the scaled-down chromatographic columns. Samples collected during processing were assayed and the log10 reduction factors calculated. Inactivation kinetics of HAV were examined during the pasteurization of Albumex(R) 5 and 20 [5% and 20% (w/v) albumin solutions] held at 60 degrees C for 10 h. Log10 reductions for HAV through the DEAE-Sepharose(R) FF, CM-Sepharose(R) FF and Sephacryl(R) S200 HR chromatographic columns were 5.3, 1.5 and 4.2 respectively, whereas a 4.4 and a greater than 3.9 log10 reduction in HAV in Albumex(R) 5 and 20 respectively were achieved during pasteurization.