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Stable supply of ‘cell culture medium’ required for corona vaccine production is needed Ajinomoto Genexine, “We will realize localization of cell culture medium development with CELLiST”

A diagnosis was made that the local production of 16 raw materials needed to produce finished COVID-19 vaccine products is urgent. According to the 'Vaccine Raw Materials Patent Analysis Report' published by the Korean Intellectual Property Office to support COVID-19 vaccine development, there are a total of 16 raw materials that require local production during the COVID-19 vaccine development process, and the main raw materials for vaccines are DNA, viral vectors, and synthetic antigens. Three types of auxiliary materials were included, including cell culture medium, bioreactor, and immune enhancer.

Among these, cell culture media is considered a key element in the production of biopharmaceuticals, including COVID-19. Domestic demand is steadily increasing, but supply is insufficient and most of the products are dependent on imports. In order to secure a stable supply of raw materials and become self-sufficient in producing COVID-19 vaccines, development and localization of media is essential.

The company leading the domestic production of cell culture media is Ajinomoto Genexine. Ajinomoto Genexine, jointly established in 2012 by global company Ajinomoto and domestic bio venture Genexine, provides services such as development and manufacturing of animal cell culture media and media consignment production. In 2014, we produced distribution culture media for the first time in Korea, leading the domestic production of cell culture media for biopharmaceutical production, which had previously been entirely dependent on imports.

Recently, Ajinomoto introduced the CELLiST series based on its cell culture medium manufacturing technology and know-how for biopharmaceutical production accumulated over 30 years. CELLiST is a cell culture medium that simultaneously achieves excellent cell growth speed and protein production capacity. The CELLiST series is a product containing high-quality amino acids backed by Ajinomoto's amino acid research capabilities and expertise. Currently, we are supplying biopharmaceutical manufacturers through a number of domestic and overseas distributors.

In addition, according to customer requests, we produce a wide range of high-quality products ranging from amino acid mixtures to cell culture media for the production of customized biopharmaceuticals, and provide prompt support from small scale to commercial scale. As it is a domestically produced product, the advantage is that cell culture media can be supplied more quickly to domestic biopharmaceutical companies.

Cell culture medium changes are possible within one year after a minimum product development period of six months. We also provide technical services necessary for changing customer cell culture media using the latest cell culture equipment and analysis equipment owned by the laboratory. Based on cutting-edge systems such as DoE and Digital Twin technology, we are helping to quickly localize all processes from COVID-19 vaccine development to finished product production.

An official from Ajinomoto Genexine said, “Through the SWITCH PROGRAM, we are supporting companies that change (Media Switch) their existing cell culture media to the CELLiST series.” He added, “The supply and demand of CELLiST cell culture media is limited both at home and abroad due to the aftermath of COVID-19. “It will be helpful in producing finished vaccine products in difficult situations,” he said.