Maximizing productivity of CHO cell‐based fed‐batch culture using chemically defined media conditions and typical manufacturing equipment

A highly productive chemically defined fed-batch process was developed to maximize titer and volumetric productivity for Chinese hamster ovary cell-based recombinant protein manufacturing. Two cell lines producing a recombinant antibody (cell line A) and an Fc-fusion protein (cell line B) were used for development. Both processes achieved product titers of 10 g/L on day 18 under chemically defined conditions. For cell line B, the use of plant derived hydrolysates combined with the optimized chemically defined medium increased the titer to 13 g/L. Volumetric productivities were increased from a base line of about 200 mg/L/d to about 500 mg/L/d under chemically defined conditions and as high as 700 mg/L/d with cell line B using plant derived hydrolysates. Peak cell densities reached greater than 20E6 vc/mL, and cell viabilities were maintained above 80% on day 18 without the use of antiapoptotic genes or temperature shift. A rapid compound screening method was developed to effectively test positive factors within 72 h. Peak volumetric oxygen uptake rates (OUR) more than tripled from the baseline condition. Oxygen demand continued to increase after maximum cell density was reached with a maximal OUR of 3.7 mmol/L/h. The new process format was scaled up and verified at 100 L pilot scale using reactor equipment of similar configuration as used at manufacturing scale.