- Insight
The pharmaceutical industry is facing a significant challenge
Between 1960 and 2000, the global population has more than doubled. Life expectancy across the developed world has also dramatically increasing due to advances in medical science, drug development and diagnostic technology. The consequence for people living longer is that the an increased number of patients are now living with chronic, complex conditions such as heart disease, Alzheimer's and Type 2 diabetes.
The expense of treating an ever-growing number of patients is putting pressure on healthcare systems who, in turn are expecting pharmaceutical companies to supply medications at a lower cost. In response, pharmaceutical manufacturers are exploring new processing and manufacturing techniques to help drive down the cost of pharmaceutical products.
Since 1970, the industry have been exploring the concept of process intensification. Through novel technologies and processing techniques, process intensification aims to reduce timelines, increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Among methods increasingly being adopted is perfusion cell culture (also called upstream continuous culture).
Perfusion involves the constant removal of cell-culture fluid from a bioreactor, while adding fresh media. This continuous process produces higher yielding products with a better consistency, compared with fed-batch processing and other batch processing techniques. Supported by advances in bioprocessing technologies and clear performance advantages, the future of both upstream and downstream processes in biomanufacturing will be continuous with a high degree of automation.
In the latest white paper presented by the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training and Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, 'The quest for efficiency—moving toward continuous processing', we explore the advantages of continuous processing in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Through insight into the advancement of continuous processing techniques, you will explore how new technology and production techniques can enable you to meet regulatory and quality assurance challenges whilst simplifying the management of your supply chain.