Hamburg, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark, May 12th, 2009 / b3c newswire / – Richter-Helm BioLogics GmbH & Co. KG announces today a technological breakthrough in the field of purification of antibody fragments from an E. coli expression system. Richter-Helm BioLogics has finalized the downstream process for Phase III clinical trial material using 2nd Generation Expanded Bed Adsorption (EBA) technology developed by the Danish biotech company Upfront Chromatography A/S.

Having conducted a series of tests, Richter-Helm has discovered significant advantages of 2nd Generation EBA over the latest, alternative chromatographic methods. A 60% increase in yield was observed using direct capture.  The simplified process is less likely to cause processing problems.  The processing time to take product from homogenate to clarified, partially purified material was reduced to one working day, decreasing the possibility of product degradation.  The volume of buffers required to perform clarification and capture was reduced significantly, effecting cost of manufacture.

Upfront’s innovation lay in the usage of higher density adsorbents and the proprietary design of an operational system which provides increased flow rates and is free from clogging and channel formation.

Rhobust® has improved Richter-Helm’s offering to customers operating with microbial derived products, providing a superior downstream process for clinical manufacturing. Richter-Helm embraced this technology under tight timelines and cost pressures and has been rewarded with a superior downstream offering in the CMO market.

The Rhobust® universal processing platform from Upfront Chromatography enables customers to efficiently capture and purify monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins and other biomolecules directly from blood plasma or bioreactors, without the need for prior filtration.

Selection of proprietary mixed mode ligand chemistry enables efficient control of the capture and release of target molecules by simple changes of pH, which can be readily implemented in large-scale production facilities and maintain biological activity of the product. Mixed mode ligands are selected for their suitability for industrial processing, in particular their stability during high temperature cleaning with 1M NaOH, low toxicity, and very low leakage from adsorbent.

For further information please contact:

Richter-Helm:
Dr. Kai Pohlmeyer
Head of Business Development
Phone: +49-40-2375-2430  
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Upfront:
Rob Noel
Global Manager
Business Development
Phone: +44 7970 930895,
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Natalya Clark
Marketing/PR Manager
Phone:.+4539174337
Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

--> Meet us at Bio2009 Booth number 5123 BioProcess Zone