Lonza, a leading contract development and manufacturing organisation, has inaugurated a Media Development Lab at its Singapore site to enhance cell culture media optimisation and facilitate a seamless transition to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing. This initiative addresses the increasing costs and risks associated with late-stage reformulation and scale-up in bioprocessing.
The lab offers a systematic approach to early media optimisation, considering scalability, raw material readiness, and GMP manufacturability. By employing Design of Experiments (DOE), the service evaluates multiple variables simultaneously to identify key performance drivers, thereby accelerating development timelines and reducing unnecessary iterations. This approach combines Lonza’s proprietary media and feed libraries with manufacturability insights to develop robust, scalable formulations early in the development process.
Michael Goetter, Head of Bioscience, Specialised Modalities at Lonza, stated, “We are committed to providing customers with the services they need to reduce early-stage risk and select media formulations that are effective at a laboratory scale and simultaneously practical and reliable in manufacturing.”
The lab’s services have been operational at Lonza’s Singapore site since March, offering bioprocessing customers improved performance and reduced risk, ensuring a smooth scale-up into manufacturing. This development is crucial as organisations face accelerated timelines and increased process complexity, necessitating structured media optimisation and alignment between development and manufacturing. The new lab is set to play a pivotal role in shaping formulation strategies and creating a natural pathway into non-GMP and GMP manufacturing.
