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Thrilling key technology

Experts in microbial development and manufacturing

Tilman Rock

Dr. Tilman Rock
Site Head Biopharma Austria at Boehringer Ingelheim

What are the most important features of microbial technology?

The microbial market is a special business that is determined by a large number of molecular formats. These include recombinant proteins, such as growth hormones, peptides, and antibody-like molecular formats, sub-unit vaccines, or plasmid DNA. With more than 150 active ingredients that the company has produced in the past 35 years, it has accumulated long-standing and in-depth experience in the development and production of these biopharmaceuticals.

And what are the most significant challenges?

Unlike in cell culture technology, there are many different molecular formats in the microbial field. Therefore, a range of process technologies is necessary for production, and customized processes are used, particularly in purification. Boehringer Ingelheim offers outstanding expertise at its Vienna location for drugs produced in microorganisms. This is also demonstrated by our impressive success story: the 18 globally approved, microbially produced drugs reflect the broad range and variety of formats.

What does Boehringer Ingelheim offer in this technology?

At our Vienna location, we operate three GMP-certified production facilities with bioreactors of various sizes for processes from E. coli and yeasts. In purification, we rely on our experience in protein folding, soluble product expression, and large-scale process management, for example, with 1.8 m diameter chromatography columns. Our explosion-proof facilities also allow special process techniques for challenging-to-produce molecules, such as organic extraction or bulk lyophilization. Chemical modifications that extend the half-life of the active ingredients and thus make drugs more user-friendly are also possible in our facilities. Once the molecular format is defined, we use high-throughput platforms to deliver material for clinical trials as quickly as possible. Our process development combines laboratory experiments, mechanistic models, and artificial intelligence to define the parameters for optimal process conditions. It is the combination of both - our broad commercial experience and development competence - that enables us to offer the entire value chain from early phase projects to market launch and global market supply, thereby creating access to innovative drugs for patients.