Mini-review: Equipment evaluation for process scalability and readiness for current Good Manufacturing Practices in cell therapy workflows

Abstract

Cell therapies present a promising treatment for a variety of diseases and are a rapidly growing market. This facilitates the need for robust biomanufacturing processes that can be implemented early during process establishment which enables scalable and reproducible manufacturing. Historically, cell therapy has used equipment originally repurposed from biologics, where the supernatant is harvested at the end of production and not the cells. Unlike biologics, cell therapy requires the preservation of cell phenotype and potency, as well as the functional recovery of the cells for the final formulation. These traditional equipment platforms have been widely adopted and, in many cases, successfully. However, given that cell therapy processes are complex, equipment specifically designed for the intended application will add immense value by producing products that are pure, potent and stable. New equipment better suited for cell therapy is being introduced to improve efficiency and product quality compared with current systems, fill key gaps that exist in current workflows or address an emerging need in new paradigms. Integration of these new instruments in laboratories using current Good Manufacturing Practices to produce cell-based drug products and drug substances requires a risk-based approach to evaluate features based on suitability and compliance with regulatory requirements. The speed at which new equipment is evaluated and implemented into new workflows is critical to match the speed of therapeutic product innovations and manufacturing capabilities. Here, we outline a framework to evaluate new equipment and de-risk implementation based on a series of features, namely, hardware, software, consumables, and workflow compatibility for the intended use. A hypothetical evaluation of three cell processing workflows is used as an example to inform equipment deployment for early process establishment and translational use for current Good Manufacturing Practices–destined workflows.