As manufacturers look to reduce carbon footprints and cut costs, Jonathan Royce, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, highlights the economic and environmental advantages of single-use bioprocessing technologies
Worldwide demand for vaccines, insulin and other biopharmaceuticals such as antibodies to treat cancer, arthritis and diabetes, is increasing dramatically, driven by the global ageing population, rising obesity levels and the global effort to reduce the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. The global market for biotherapeutics was valued at US$95bn (€72bn) in 2008 and it was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% to reach $160bn (€121bn) in 2013.1 According to the latest independent figures2, global sales of human and animal vaccines were approximately $25.2bn (€19bn) in 2009, and the market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 17.9% to reach $64.2bn (€45.6bn) by 2015.
Disposables first moved into biopharmaceutical production facilities through the introduction of pleated membrane filter capsules in a sealed plastic housing; then disposable media and buffer bags came on the scene. More recently single-use bioreactors and accessories for cell culture, separation and purification, fluid management and connectivity, as well as prepacked, disposable chromatography columns and other chromatography solutions have come to the fore. An ever-increasing range of single-use technologies and equipment is becoming available for upstream and downstream processing, enabling biomanufacturers to integrate individual unit operations, or complete end-to-end processes, known as ‘plug-and-play’, in a single-use format.
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