Lonza's new medium boosts and optimizes AAV production in insect cells

Lonza's TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium for AAV production in SF9 cells.

The TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium is specifically designed to support the development of safe, scalable, gene therapies.

The new high-performance medium accelerates cell growth, increases productivity, and reduces process variability and costs, expediting time-to-market for safe, scalable, life-saving gene therapies.

Gene therapy holds great promise for the treatment of rare disorders and diseases, and viral vectors are commonly used to facilitate the delivery of the gene of interest into patient cells.

AAV has been established as a viral vector of choice, due to not replicating in patients, thus posing a lower health risk. Owing to their ability to be grown at high densities, the Sf9 insect cells are ideal for use as hosts for the production of large AAV quantities. To date, however, translational scientists and researchers have been challenged with the lack of a medium dedicated to AAV production in Sf9 insect cells.

The company reports that its TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium provides a cost and time-efficient solution for the production of AAV in Sf9 insect cells. Allowing for rapid cell growth, the TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium reduces processing time significantly, enabling cell infection one day earlier than similar media available on the market, and boosting laboratory performance.

Due to its chemically defined nature, the new hydrolysate free medium produces AAV that requires less purification, further decreasing the overall processing time and minimizing labour requirements. Furthermore, the TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium supports consistent cell growth throughout all phases of the culturing process, considerably reducing process variability.

As a chemically defined, non-animal origin product, the TheraPEAK SfAAV Medium is safer to use than media containing animal or human components, thereby facilitating regulatory compliance. Additionally, the medium is supplied with a US Food and Drug Administration drug master file, alleviating the relevant preparation and submission burden.