DSM Biologics has reached an agreement to acquire the assets and associated business of the Rhobust technology from Denmark-based Upfront Chromatography A/S for pharmaceutical and other applications.

DSM Biologics will gain all rights for the commercialization of the Rhobust technology in various fields. The technology will lead to further innovation in the downstream processing for the manufacturing of recombinant proteins and antibodies, according to a DSM statement. DSM Biologics will continue to support all existing clients for this technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Karen King, president of DSM Biologics, commented, "The Rhobust technology combined with DSM's proprietary XD technology will provide an integral package combining high titer, high yield processing with efficient downstream processing leading to lower manufacturing costs."

The Rhobust technology has proven its ability to perform with high titer and high density cell culture processes, reducing the number of unit operations compared to a conventional harvest approach. Cells are separated in one step while capturing the protein / antibody of interest. In the expanded bed adsorption chromatography (EBA) the cell suspension passes through the column and the product is adsorbed either on Protein A or on mixed mode ligand beads. This leads to less handling and shorter process times, according to DSM.

Rolf Douwenga, vice president, Global Technology at DSM Biologics, remarked, "DSM Biologics develops new technologies to meet the challenges of future biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Our proprietary XD technology was a first step in yielding high density cell cultures. We have achieved up to 200million cells/ml and titers up to 27 g/L for antibodies. This brings a real challenge to the downstream process; conventional process technology is of limited use here. With the Rhobust technology we can address this issue, and we are constantly broadening our technology portfolio for an even more effective biomanufacturing process."