For the production of monoclonal antibodies, cell clarification is commonly achieved by depth filtration. Recovery of product following depth filtration and the cost can significantly impact the efficiency. In an effort to make this step more effective flocculation can be used. In this work we evaluated several flocculating agents for their ability to increase the throughput of depth filtration. Flocculating agents tested included pDADMAC, pH 4.5, Celpure P300, polyethylenimine and Calcium phosphate. Using D0HC filters, we saw only a modest increase in throughput- up to 75%. However, using Clarisolve filters, which have a porous gradient structure, we obtained up to 10-fold increase in throughput: Best were calcium-phosphate and pH 4.5, which supported throughputs of 496 and 430 L/m<sup>2</sup>, respectively. Scaling up to 75 L, we used a single 0.33m Clarisolve filter with no increase in pressure. An added benefit of flocculation was up to four-fold reduction in HCPs and 70-fold decrease in residual DNA to 33 ng/mg MAb in the clarified harvest.<br/>

Using flocculating agents to increase depth filter throughput during cell harvesting

2019 Spring National Meeting

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