Metabolon Announces Implementation of Metabolomics Platform at Pfizer

Metabolon, Inc., the leader in metabolomics-driven biomarker discovery and analysis, announced today the implementation of its metabolomics technology at Pfizer’s Bioprocess R&D Group. This global biochemical profiling technology, called mVision, will provide analysis of samples from bioreactors. Using mVision, Pfizer will be able to rapidly understand cellular metabolism in the biopharmaceutical production process, which in turn will enable Pfizer to optimize bioprocesses and to reduce manufacture costs.

The use of metabolomics for bioprocess optimization is a novel application for the latest of the “omics” technologies. The global analysis of biochemicals provides a snapshot of the metabolic state of cells as they grow in a bioreactor.

These cells grow in a nutrient-rich media, using nutrients to produce the protein of interest. In many cases, an essential nutrient is depleted more rapidly than the others, causing the cells to stop growing. By analyzing hundreds of nutrients over time, the rate-limiting component can rapidly be identified. In addition to producing the desired protein product, cells produce metabolites which can be toxic to the cells. Given the large number of metabolites produced in a cell, only a global analysis can identify the toxic species.

“Pfizer’s commitment to our platform demonstrates the power of metabolomics for understanding complex systems like bioreactors,” said John Ryals, president and chief executive of Metabolon. “By monitoring a large number of biochemicals in a bioreactor process, customers can quickly uncover areas for optimization. Traditionally, scientists have monitored only a handful of parameters to optimize bioprocessing. With our approach, they can monitor ten times the number of parameters.”

"The ultimate goal for Pfizer is to achieve molecular-level knowledge of cellular metabolism in industrially relevant mammalian cell lines,” said Ellen McCormick, director of the Bioprocess Research and Development organization in Pfizer’s Global Research and Development division. “We seek this information to enable rationale design of process improvements and cell line selection, toward improved quality, robustness and productivity of our biotherapeutic manufacturing processes."