(79g) Chemical Engineering Contributions across the Biopharmaceutical Discovery Value Chain | AIChE

(79g) Chemical Engineering Contributions across the Biopharmaceutical Discovery Value Chain

Authors 

Wittrup, K. D. - Presenter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Protein drugs, particularly monoclonal antibodies, predominate in the list of top-selling pharmaceuticals - and the pace of new introductions is accelerating. Chemical engineers made foundational and unquestioned contributions to cell culture and bioseparations for antibody manufacturing, establishing the basis of the present biotechnology industry. However, the chemical engineering skillset now also contributes significantly along the length of a drug’s discovery pathway: pharmacological design —> molecular discovery —> developability screening —> biomanufacturing —> preclinical PK/PD —> clinical trial PK/PD. Our comfort and familiarity with quantitative descriptions and models of kinetic and transport processes provides key advantages over less mathematically inclined life science disciplinary approaches. Key examples and case studies from both industry and academia will be presented to illustrate this perspective.