Press release

The full press release can be downloaded as a pdf.

ChromaCon’s scale-up partner LEWA ships the first twin-column chromatography unit for GMP production

Zurich, June 29, 2016. The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (Fraunhofer IGB) is a contract research and development organization located in Stuttgart, Germany. Being a competence center for biopharmaceutical product development, it has developed expertise in the development of continuous processes employing a Contichrom^® CUBE system. The Contichrom system employs a twin-column configuration which is the simplest and most effective multi-column configuration for continuous purification. Now, the first GMP skid for continuous pilot-scale chromatography, made by ChromaCon’s scale-up partner LEWA and featuring ChromaCon’s CaptureSMB^® technology, has been installed in Fraunhofer IGB’s clean room environment. The institute thus strengthens its position as competence center for continuous manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals.

Michael Bavand, CEO of ChromaCon commented: “We are pleased that LEWA’s Ecoprime^® TWIN system is the first fully functional GMP-scale system for continuous chromatography that enters the market. We are confident that the system and its process technology will become a standard in continuous purification.”

Gerard Gach, Chief Marketing Officer of LEWA Process Technologies commented: “With ChromaCon, who have many Contichrom systems installed running continuous processes, LEWA have engineered out the complexity inherent in other multi-column designs making the implementation of this advanced technology easier to validate”. The full press release by LEWA can be downloaded here.

In December 2015, Fraunhofer IGB hosted the first workshop on chromatography in continuous processes, which was well attended by industry and academia. Making use of its extended capabilities, Fraunhofer IGB will host a second workshop in late 2016 that will be announced in due time.

About Fraunhofer IGB

The Fraunhofer IGB develops and optimizes processes and products in the fields of health, chemistry and process industry, as well as environment and energy. It combines the highest scientific standards with professional know-how in its competence areas – always with a view to economic efficiency and sustainability. Its strengths are offering complete solutions from the laboratory to the pilot scale. Customers also benefit from the cooperation between our five R&D departments in Stuttgart and the institute branches located in Leuna, Straubing and Würzburg. The constructive interplay of the various disciplines at the institute opens up new approaches in areas such as medical engineering, nanotechnology, industrial biotechnology, and environmental technology. The Fraunhofer IGB is one of 67 institutes and independent research units of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s leading organization for applied research.

About LEWA

LEWA through its Process Technologies operation provides advanced purification and fluid management technologies and services that are shaping a new age in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Its broad expertise in process innovation and user adaptable software architecture helps its customers to deliver quality and cost effective engineered solutions, with precision, accuracy and reproducibility. Part of LEWA GmbH, and Nikkiso, Corporation we leverage the global sales and service and fluid engineering innovations of these multi-national leaders in fluid dynamics, precision pumps and other original technologies.
Headquartered in Devens, MA, USA LEWA Process Technologies is a unit of LEWA GmbH and its parent NIKKISO CO., LTD. Nikkiso & LEWA employees which number over 5000 are committed to serving customers in more than 100 countries.

About ChromaCon AG

ChromaCon AG is a private Life Science Tool company located in Zürich, Switzerland, providing best-in-class process solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry. ChromaCon has developed and patented novel process principles, process control, equipment designs and operating software for batch, cyclic and continuous chromatography, providing significant CAPEX and OPEX cost savings and enabling scalable chromatographic solutions for large scale purification applications. The Contichrom^® laboratory-scale equipment is co-marketed worldwide by ChromaCon and its partners. ChromaCon has provided global licenses for its process technologies to LEWA for implementation into scale-up systems. ChromaCon also develops and markets affinity purification solutions for column and membrane chromatography applications and tools for site-specific protein conjugation.

ChromaCon Contact

To find out more about ChromaCon please contact us directly or visit our website.
Dr. Michael Bavand, CEO, info@chromacon.com, www.chromacon.com