Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes

The pharmaceutical industry employs a myriad of modalities; ranging from small molecules to biologics such as peptides, monoclonal antibodies, bi-specific antibodies, and viral vectors. The manufacturing of these products is as varied as the products themselves. Small molecules are synthesized ch...

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Main Author: Maloney, Andrew John
Other Authors: Braatz, Richard D.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2025
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/158315
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author Maloney, Andrew John
author2 Braatz, Richard D.
author_facet Braatz, Richard D.
Maloney, Andrew John
author_sort Maloney, Andrew John
collection MIT
description The pharmaceutical industry employs a myriad of modalities; ranging from small molecules to biologics such as peptides, monoclonal antibodies, bi-specific antibodies, and viral vectors. The manufacturing of these products is as varied as the products themselves. Small molecules are synthesized chemically; i.e. by a series of key chemical transformation, work-up, and recovery steps. Larger molecules can be isolated from naturally occurring sources (i.e. humans, plants, or other microorganisms), or produced via recombinant hosts such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO), Escherichia coli, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with some products requiring both a recombinant host and transient transfection or infection with additional genetic material. Across these modalities, industry, regulatory agencies and academia are investigating technologies for improved quality, efficiency, capability, and consistency. Of these technologies, continuous manufacturing (CM) is of particular interest due to its ability to allow for reduced equipment sizing and footprint, improved environmental sustainability, and improved process control. This thesis supports the implementation of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing through advanced modeling, simulation, and control as described in three independent case studies. The first work considers the development of a virtual plant for manufacturing of a small molecule active pharmaceutical intermediate (API) through four chemical transformation, workup, and recovery steps. The plant is used for uncertainty quantification, improved process design, and novel process control strategy development. The second work considers the production of small, globular proteins by the yeast Pichia pastoris. A model for copy number stability is developed and validated using data in open literature and data generated at MIT. The third work concerns the production of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using Chinese hamster ovary cells as a production host. Hardware considerations, lower level regulatory controls, and advanced process modeling and control for a heavily-instrumented mAb manufacturing testbed are discussed. Across this thesis, the benefits of systems-level analysis in the continuous manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is documented and demonstrated.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1583152025-03-05T15:26:59Z Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes Maloney, Andrew John Braatz, Richard D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering The pharmaceutical industry employs a myriad of modalities; ranging from small molecules to biologics such as peptides, monoclonal antibodies, bi-specific antibodies, and viral vectors. The manufacturing of these products is as varied as the products themselves. Small molecules are synthesized chemically; i.e. by a series of key chemical transformation, work-up, and recovery steps. Larger molecules can be isolated from naturally occurring sources (i.e. humans, plants, or other microorganisms), or produced via recombinant hosts such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO), Escherichia coli, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with some products requiring both a recombinant host and transient transfection or infection with additional genetic material. Across these modalities, industry, regulatory agencies and academia are investigating technologies for improved quality, efficiency, capability, and consistency. Of these technologies, continuous manufacturing (CM) is of particular interest due to its ability to allow for reduced equipment sizing and footprint, improved environmental sustainability, and improved process control. This thesis supports the implementation of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing through advanced modeling, simulation, and control as described in three independent case studies. The first work considers the development of a virtual plant for manufacturing of a small molecule active pharmaceutical intermediate (API) through four chemical transformation, workup, and recovery steps. The plant is used for uncertainty quantification, improved process design, and novel process control strategy development. The second work considers the production of small, globular proteins by the yeast Pichia pastoris. A model for copy number stability is developed and validated using data in open literature and data generated at MIT. The third work concerns the production of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using Chinese hamster ovary cells as a production host. Hardware considerations, lower level regulatory controls, and advanced process modeling and control for a heavily-instrumented mAb manufacturing testbed are discussed. Across this thesis, the benefits of systems-level analysis in the continuous manufacturing of pharmaceuticals is documented and demonstrated. Ph.D. 2025-03-05T15:26:54Z 2025-03-05T15:26:54Z 2021-06 2025-03-04T16:17:28.047Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/158315 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright MIT http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Maloney, Andrew John
Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title_full Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title_fullStr Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title_full_unstemmed Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title_short Case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
title_sort case studies in the modeling and control of continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing processes
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/158315
work_keys_str_mv AT maloneyandrewjohn casestudiesinthemodelingandcontrolofcontinuouspharmaceuticalmanufacturingprocesses