Drug repurposing is a time-saving and cost-effective strategy versus de novo drug discovery. The same is true for the repurposing of technology. When the fight against COVID-19 required a fast response, the industry tapped into its experience with cell culture processes, often initially developed for other indications. For example, viral vector vaccines, made in human cell culture, were already used for Ebola.⁷

With preventive COVID-19 vaccines already hailed as a success, the race continues to add drugs to the arsenal that can treat patients infected with the disease.⁸  Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) produced by cell culture have enabled significant advances in the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases in the last decades. As treatments for cancer and COVID-19 often have similar targets in inflammation, cell division and the host microenvironment, this class of biological drugs is also of great interest here.⁹ The highly advanced cell culture technologies used to produce antibodies were rapidly and successfully used to develop, produce and apply antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19.^5,10 First results are promising – two products received emergency approvals and others are under evaluation¹¹.

Looking beyond COVID-19, the lessons learnt from cancer immunotherapy with mAbs are also being applied to conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Engineering mAbs to improve efficacy and allow higher antibody penetration with fewer side effects are beginning to show promise.¹² The success of cell-culture based treatments outside of their current indications can trigger a new wave of development in therapy fields previously not considered.

Particularly within oncology and immune diseases, there is a shift from ‘blockbuster’ drugs towards more specific, niche indications.¹³ This requires companies to be agile and innovative in their R&D, ensuring that experimental models can be adapted efficiently to meet the needs of small patient populations. It also requires a smaller production set-up with more frequent product changes, which limits the available capacity. Recent advances in cell media design improve time-space yield and help to compensate these effects. Synthetic dipeptides, naturally occurring complexes of two amino acids, were shown to be particularly effective. Evonik has developed into a technology leader for advanced cell culture ingredients such as dipeptides and is involved in many developmental and commercial programs.

Biosimilars, generic versions of established biological drugs, are ever more attractive to health systems under pressure. They can provide broader populations with access to this type of treatment. Their growth triggered two effects: a need for more capacity and increased cost pressure on originators. One solution to address both issues is to increase the productivity of new and established cell culture processes. An elegant way to achieve this is improved cell media design, driven by innovative, high quality cell culture medium ingredients – a strategy in which Evonik leads the way.