I have heard that there are cost savings to be had with switching to single-use bioreactors in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Can you please outline how that is achieved?
This question is part of the following Ask The Expert session:
Answered by:
Answer
Xcellerex GE Healthcare Life Sciences has an in depth analysis outlining this model. Some brief examples include the following: Savings are a result of time savings (system prep, system turnaround, labor) and infrastructure savings. Single-use bioreactor bags come gamma-irradiated, therefore you don’t need to perform steam in place (SIP) sterilization operations as with traditional systems. With SS there would also be the need for clean steam generator as part of the infrastructure and with this comes maintenance. For SU, at the completion of a run, the SU bioreactor bag can be inactivated and removed from the vessel. Compared to traditional SS tanks where you would need to perform clean-in-place (CIP) which you’ll also need a CIP skid system for. A change out of all the elastomers and gaskets throughout the tank. These aspects would also result in difference in labor and hours, less labor for the SU systems. These are just a few examples of broad comparison.
This post is sponsored by Cytiva (formerly GE).