Single-Use Bioprocessing Systems; Disposable Biopharmaceutical Products Intended for One-Time Use

 

Single-use bioprocessing systems refer to bioprocessing (biopharmaceutical manufacturing) equipment that is designed to be used once and then discarded. These type of systems, such as single-use bags, disposable bioreactor, and disposable filters, are disposed after use instead of cleaning or sterilization. The increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals worldwide has driven the demand for single-use bioprocessing systems. Single-use bioprocessing systems are widely used in the biotechnology industry due to their high efficiency, reduced cost, and comparatively low maintenance, with substantial time savings during procedures.

Apart from these benefits, these systems are environmentally friendly as they use consumable media devoid of any chemical reactions and are highly flexible with respect to applications. Moreover, they have the potential of handling diverse materials such as a drug, biological, and industrial chemicals, small molecules and other chemical elements. Single-use bioprocessing systems or products are made of various types of plastics, such as Polyamide, Ethylene vinyl acetate, Cellulose acetate, Polyvinyl chloride, Polypropylene, Polyethersulfone, Polyethylene, Polycarbonate, and Polytetrafluorethylene.

Single-use technologies include sterile bags, bioreactors, mixers, capsule filters, tubing, ion exchange membrane chromatography devices, sampling receptacles, and connection devices, among others. Single-use bioprocessing systems are used in a broad range of biopharmaceutical applications, such as separation, storage, purification, mixing, filtration, upstream expression, etc. Moreover, single-use bioprocessing systems are being increasingly used in the COVID-19 vaccine production. Thus, there is an increasing demand for single-use bioprocessing in the biopharmaceutical industry around the world.

The ongoing research and development activities and clinical trials to develop COVID-19 vaccine are encouraging many biopharma companies to use single-use bioprocessing systems. Drug discovery using single-use technology has become a major focus for the management of the pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in Japan, from 3 January 2020 to 2:00am CEST, 19 August 2021, there have been 1,202,012 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 15,501 deaths. Thus, the demand for COVID-19 vaccines is increasing in Japan, which in turn drives the demand for single-use bioprocessing.