Affinity chromatography is among the most powerful separation techniques, achieving the finest separation with high yields even in the most challenging feed streams. Incorporating affinity chromatography in vaccine purification has long been attempted by researchers to improve unit yield and purity with the secondary goal of reducing the number of downstream process operations. Despite the success in laboratory-scale proof of concept, implementation of this technique in pilot or cGMP manufacturing has rarely been realised due to technical and economic challenges in design and manufacturing of ideal ligands as well as availability of high-productivity chromatography media. This paper reviews evolving technologies in engineered ligands and chromatography media that are encouraging companies to re-visit the possible use of affinity chromatography in larger scale vaccine purification. It is postulated that commercial-scale implementation of high throughput single-use affinity chromatography can significantly simplify process architecture, improve productivity and flexibility, and reduce cost of goods.

The current processing paradigm of large manufacturing facilities dedicated to single product production is no longer an effective approach for best manufacturing practices. Increasing competition for new indications and the launch of biosimilars for the monoclonal antibody market have put pressure on manufacturers to produce at lower cost. Single-use technologies and continuous upstream processes have proven to be cost-efficient options to increase biomass production but as of today the adoption has been only minimal for the purification operations, partly due to concerns related to cost and scale-up. This review summarizes how a single-use holistic process and facility strategy can overcome scale limitations and enable cost-efficient manufacturing to support the growing demand for affordable biologics. Technologies enabling high productivity, right-sized, small footprint, continuous, and automated upstream and downstream operations are evaluated in order to propose a concept for the flexible facility of the future.

Background: Oncolytic viruses are playing an increasingly important role in cancer immunotherapy applications. Given the preclinical and clinical efficacy of these virus-based therapeutics, there is a need for fast, simple, and inexpensive downstream processing methodologies to purify biologically active viral agents that meet the increasingly higher safety standards stipulated by regulatory authorities like the Food and Drug Administration and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products. However, the production of virus materials for clinical dosing of oncolytic virotherapies is currently limited-in quantity, quality, and timeliness-by current purification technologies. Adsorption of virus particles to solid phases provides a convenient and practical choice for large-scale fractionation and recovery of viruses from cell and media contaminants. Indeed, chromatography has been deemed the most promising technology for large-scale purification of viruses for biomedical applications. The implementation of new chromatography media has improved process performance, but low yields and long processing times required to reach the desired purity are still limiting. Results: Here we report the development of an interference chromatography-based process for purifying high titer, clinical grade oncolytic Newcastle disease virus using NatriFlo® HD-Q membrane technology. This novel approach to optimizing chromatographic performance utilizes differences in molecular bonding interactions to achieve high purity in a single ion exchange step. Conclusions: When used in conjunction with membrane chromatography, this high yield method based on interference chromatography has the potential to deliver efficient, scalable processes to enable viable production of oncolytic virotherapies.