Date: 2 - 4 November, 2022

Venue: Congress Centre, Basel, Switzerland

Attendees: Christelle Dagoneau (SVP Business Development), Thierry Wurch (SVP Integrated Biologics Discovery), and Nigel Shipston (Senior Director Business Development)

Evotec and Just-Evotec Biologics will be attending and presenting its science at the Festival of Biologics in Basel.

Our scientific program:

Presentation: Paradigm Shift in Biologics Manufacturing: Leveraging Continuous Manufacturing and AI/ML Based Technologies From Discovery to Market Supply

During this session, Christelle Dagoneau will present a unique platform concept which integrates the discovery, development, and manufacture of biologics in innovative and easily deployable production facilities called J.POD. She will particularly describe how the Just-Evotec Biologics cutting-edge AI/ML protein design technologies combined with industry-leading intensified continuous bioprocess can help de-risk and accelerate biotherapeutics development from lead generation through to BLA while offering cost-effective and truly flexible clinical and commercial supply solutions.

Presented by Christelle Dagoneau, SVP Business Development at Just-Evotec Biologics on 2 November at 17:10 CET

Presentation: Evotec's Integrated Biologics Discovery and Development Platform to Strengthen Immunotherapy Research Programs

At Evotec, we discover, develop and manufacture novel medicines for hard-to-treat diseases through efficient partnerships with academia, biotechs and pharma. Our discovery efforts focus on data-driven precision medicine and early disease relevance to improve success rates in identifying best-in-class therapeutics.

To support immunotherapy research projects, we developed an integrated discovery platform ranging from target validation, antibody discovery and optimization, in vitro/in vivo pharmacology, PK, and toxicology to select the best clinical candidates. By applying both humanized mouse-derived hybridoma and phage display coupled to AI/ML-based optimization, antibodies are selected based on disease relevant, target related in vitro and in vivo models. Applications for the identification of immune-modulating molecules will be discussed.

Presented by Theirry Wurch, SVP Integrated Biologics Discovery on 3 November at 17:20 CET

Poster: Conversion of an Intensified Fed-Batch to an Integrated Continuous Bioprocess

Despite advances in upstream and downstream Integrated Continuous Bioprocessing (ICB) technologies, reducing manufacturing costs and process development costs continue to be a concern.

Conversion of a fed-batch (FB) or intensified fed-batch (IFB) process into a hybrid or end-to-end ICB process may be particularly challenging but manageable using key platform elements: high specific productivity cell lines, low-cost, concentrated perfusion media formulations, an optimized and scalable cell-retention device, and the impact to product quality remains as a potential issue stemming from higher culture cell densities, longer culture durations, and differences in product residence times.

This work involved the rapid conversion of an IFB mAb process to a hybrid ICB process using the Just-Evotec Biologics platform, resulting in several key project accomplishments:

• Mitigation of upstream IFB challenges: Filter fouling due to higher culture cell densities and durations was addressed by controlling cell density and implementing continuous harvest (CH).
• Significant productivity increase: 5-fold increase in product mass per working volume compared to original FB process at the 500L manufacturing scale.
• Short development time: < 6 months from project start to cGMP batch completion.
• Minimal risk from changes in product quality: most attributes (HMW and rCE) and process impurities (HCP, DNA, and Pro-A) were comparable (minor differences in glycan distribution).
• These results demonstrate that the rapid conversion of FB and IFB mAb processes to ICB can be met when implementing a robust ICB platform, thus supporting the biotherapeutic industry’s need to quickly adapt to changing clinical and business circumstances.

If you wish to meet with us in Basel, get in touch via the form below, we will be happy to arrange a meeting.

Learn more about the Festival of Biologics