Effectiveness of Various Processing Steps for Viral Clearance of Therapeutic Proteins: Database Analyses of Commonly Used Steps

The successful implementation of any biologically derived product in human clinical trials and as a marketed biopharmaceutical requires the critical utilization of effective viral clearance steps. As biologic products have inherent risks of potentially carrying and or amplifying adventitious viruses that may be present in or introduced into the original materials, a number of processing steps are needed to provide adequate virus removal. Some common process steps are introduced into downstream purification schemes that provide a physical means to separate and/or remove viruses from the therapeutic protein. The physical steps often include virus-removing filters and chromatographic resins in column or membrane configurations, but can also include the introduction of irradiation, high heat steps, or other means for destroying the infectivity of a virus. Chemical treatment steps are often utilized as a means to inactivate a wide variety of virus types. A general overview is provided that describes the most commonly used techniques for virus removal or inactivation for the validation of virus clearance. Data sets from studies performed at WuXi AppTec for a wide variety of biologics reveal a number of steps that provide guidance for the design of process steps dedicated to viral clearance. The overall efficiency of several process steps reveals a number of efficient, robust steps, such as nanofiltration which can be designed for removal of almost all viral species. Exposure to a low pH or solvent detergent is also a robust step for inactivating enveloped virus. Steps with greater variances in predictability include chromatography steps such as capture columns and anion exchange resins. A lower removal capacity is typically expected for other chromatography steps such as cation exchange steps.