CHO cells, a biopharmaceutical platform (Activase, 1987)
Células CHO, plataforma de biofármacos (Activase, 1987)
- Date
- 1957-1987 · confidence high
- Place
- Genentech, South San Francisco, California, United States
- Credited to
- Theodore Puck (CHO line, 1957); Genentech (alteplase, 1987)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The Chinese hamster ovary line, derived by Puck in Denver in 1957, became the industry's standard cellular bioreactor. Its first big product was tissue plasminogen activator (Activase, Genentech, 1987), a complex protein that E. coli could not make.
Alteplase was approved in November 1987; processes before CHO included interferon in E. coli and yeast. The original CHO line was obtained at the University of Colorado (Denver).
What it led to
- over 70% of recombinant therapeutic antibodies and proteins
- bioreactors of tens of thousands of litres in suspension culture
- high-yield cultures and perfusion bioprocesses