Proteins are critical components of diverse consumer goods, including vaccines. Newcomers and existing market participants are seeking accessible and agile technologies for protein development and production, but legacy manufacturing operations typically require substantial up-front capital, specialized physical space, and an expert workforce. Here, we describe the advantages of using eukaryotic microbes and continuous manufacturing for protein product development and commercial production.
Eukaryotic microbes, such as Pichia pastoris, enable rapid development cycles, cost-effective manufacturing, and multi-product agility. This is due to their quick doubling times, direct genomic integration of transgenes, ability to cleanly secrete complex proteins, and the low-cost raw materials for their cultivation. Continuous manufacturing also has significant benefits for process development and protein production, including a reduced physical footprint and carbon footprint, lower capital investment and ongoing operational costs, and increased flexibility, productivity and product quality. Sunflower has developed a proprietary technology – the Daisy PetalTM Perfusion Bioreactor System – that enables continuous fermentation of eukaryotic microbes. We show that the Daisy PetalTM can be used for efficient continuous production of recombinant proteins by Pichia pastoris, including cytokines, hormones, subunit vaccines, virus-like particles, monoclonal antibodies, and other products.
