Purification processes of live virus vaccine candidates expressed in adherent Vero cell lines via multimodal chromatography in flowthrough mode.

Live virus vaccine (LVV) purification, employing chromatography, can be challenged by low binding capacities and elution yields. Alternatively, processes relying solely on enzymatic digestion steps and size-based membrane separations can be limited by suboptimal reduction of process related impurities and poorly scalable unit operations. Here, we demonstrate that the combination of flowthrough mode chromatography and an ultrafiltration/diafiltration (UF/DF) unit operation delivers a purification process for two different LVV candidates, V590 and Measles, expressed in adherent Vero cells. For V590, chromatography with mixed mode cation exchange resins returned final product yields of ∼50% and logarithmic reduction values (LRVs) of 1.7->3.4 and 2.5-3.0 for host cell DNA (hcDNA) and host cell proteins (HCPs), respectively. For Measles, chromatography with mixed mode anion exchange resins returned final product yields of ∼50% and LRVs of 1.6 and 2.2 for hcDNA and HCPs, respectively. For both V590 and Measles processing, the employed resins cleared a key HCP, fibronectin, which could foul the UF/DF unit operation, and thusly enabling it to further reduce HCPs and to formulate the final LVV products. This integrated purification process utilizes the complementary action of the two unit operations and its applicability across LVVs supports its consideration for their processing.

Bacterial Retention During Filtration of a Live Attenuated Virus Vaccine Through the Sartobran P Sterile Filter.

Recent studies of sterile filtration of a Live Attenuated Virus (LAV) demonstrated that the Sartobran P sterile filter provided 80% yield of a LAV that was 100 - 400 nm in size, raising questions about the effectiveness of this filter in retaining the standard challenge bacterium, Brevundimonas diminuta. This study evaluated the retention of B. diminuta by the Sartobran P over a range of conditions appropriate for LAV filtration. The B. diminuta were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and scanning electron microscopy. The Sartobran P showed complete retention of B. diminuta under all conditions, even in the presence of additives like sucrose, surfactants, and high salt that have previously been hypothesized to increase the risk of bacterial breakthrough. The size of B. diminuta decreased when incubated in the nutrient poor media required by the ASTM challenge test. The addition of sucrose caused a further reduction in size as measured by NTA, although this was due to an increase in cell motility. There was no evidence of bacterial breakthrough at high loadings of either the LAV or B. diminuta, further demonstrating the effectiveness of the Sartobran P for sterile filtration of large viral vaccines.