Manufacturing process used to produce long-acting recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein.

Recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein (rFVIIIFc) is a long-acting coagulation factor approved for the treatment of hemophilia A. Here, the rFVIIIFc manufacturing process and results of studies evaluating product quality and the capacity of the process to remove potential impurities and viruses are described. This manufacturing process utilized readily transferable and scalable unit operations and employed multi-step purification and viral clearance processing, including a novel affinity chromatography adsorbent and a 15 nm pore size virus removal nanofilter. A cell line derived from human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293H cells was used to produce rFVIIIFc. Validation studies evaluated identity, purity, activity, and safety. Process-related impurity clearance and viral clearance spiking studies demonstrate robust and reproducible removal of impurities and viruses, with total viral clearance >8-15 log10 for four model viruses (xenotropic murine leukemia virus, mice minute virus, reovirus type 3, and suid herpes virus 1). Terminal galactose-α-1,3-galactose and N-glycolylneuraminic acid, two non-human glycans, were undetectable in rFVIIIFc. Biochemical and in vitro biological analyses confirmed the purity, activity, and consistency of rFVIIIFc. In conclusion, this manufacturing process produces a highly pure product free of viruses, impurities, and non-human glycan structures, with scale capabilities to ensure a consistent and adequate supply of rFVIIIFc.

Inactivation of viruses using novel protein A wash buffers.

Low pH viral inactivation is typically performed in the eluate pool following the protein A capture step during the manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins. However, exposure to low pH has the potential to alter protein quality. To avoid these difficulties, novel wash buffers capable of inactivating viruses while antibodies or Fc-fusion proteins were bound to protein A or mixed mode resins were developed. By equilibrating the column in high salt buffer (2 M ammonium sulfate or 3 M sodium chloride) after loading, the hydrophobic interactions between antibodies and protein A ligands were increased enough to prevent elution at pH 3. The ammonium sulfate was also found to cause binding of an antibody to a mixed mode cation exchange and a mixed mode anion exchange resin at pH values that caused elution in conventional cation and anion exchange resins (pH 3.5 for Capto Adhere and pH 8.0 for Capto MMC), indicating that retention was due to enhanced hydrophobic interactions. The potential of the 2 M ammonium sulfate pH 3 buffer, a 1 M arginine buffer, and a buffer containing the detergent LDAO to inactivate XMuLV virus when used as protein A wash buffers with a 1 hour contact time were studied. The high salt and detergent containing wash buffers provided about five logs of removal, determined using PCR, and complete combined removal and inactivation (> 6 logs), determined by measuring infectivity. The novel protein A washes could provide more rapid, automated viral inactivation steps with lower pool conductivities.

Enveloped virus inactivation using neutral arginine solutions and applications in therapeutic protein purification processes.

For the manufacturing of recombinant protein therapeutics produced from mammalian cell culture, demonstrating the capacity of the purification process to effectively clear infectious viruses is a regulatory requirement. At least two process steps, using different mechanisms of virus removal and/or inactivation, should be validated in support of the regulatory approval process. For example, exposure of the product stream to low pH, detergents or solvent/detergent combinations is commonly incorporated in protein purification processes for the inactivation of lipid-enveloped viruses. However, some proteins have limited stability at low pH or in the presence of the detergents, and alternative techniques for achieving the inactivation of enveloped viruses would be beneficial. We present here an alternative and novel approach for the rapid inactivation of enveloped viruses using pH-neutral buffer solutions containing arginine. The implementation of this approach in a monoclonal antibody or Fc-fusion protein purification process is described and illustrated with several different therapeutic proteins. The use of the neutral pH arginine solution was able to effectively inactivate two enveloped model viruses, with no measurable effect on the product quality of the investigated proteins. Thus, the use of pH-neutral arginine containing buffer solutions provides an alternative means of virus inactivation where other forms of virus inactivation, such as low pH and/or solvent/detergent treatments are not possible or undesirable due to protein stability limitations.

Application of a novel affinity adsorbent for the capture and purification of recombinant factor VIII compounds.

Recombinant Factor VIII (FVIII) therapies have been created to provide treatment for Hemophilia A, an inherited bleeding disorder caused by mutation in the FVIII gene. A major challenge in the purification of recombinant FVIII molecules is the development of an affinity chromatography step. Such a step must be highly specific and selective for the FVIII molecule, but also must be designed appropriately to ensure the FVIII molecule can be effectively recovered without resorting to harsh elution conditions which may be harmful to the product. Additionally, it is desirable to have affinity adsorbents designed to be reusable over a large number of column cycles while maintaining consistent purification performance. In this work, we describe the use of VIIISelect, a commercially available affinity adsorbent designed specifically for the purification of FVIII compounds. The VIIISelect adsorbent consists of a 13kDa recombinant protein ligand attached to a cross-linked agarose base matrix. The structure of the recombinant ligand is based upon Camelid-derived single domain antibody fragments. The VIIISelect adsorbent is produced using a process free of animal-derived raw materials, which is a highly desirable attribute for adsorbents used in the purification processes of recombinant protein therapeutics. The VIIISelect adsorbent was used as the initial capture column to purify a FVIII compound directly from clarified cell culture fluid prior to further downstream purification. The purification performance of the VIIISelect was evaluated, which included measurement of the static binding capacity, dynamic binding capacity, product recovery, impurity clearance, and adsorbent reuse. Following laboratory-scale process development, the VIIISelect adsorbent was scaled up and used in the large scale manufacturing of a FVIII compound.