Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a leading life science and high technology company, announced that its custom manufacturing and services business unit, SAFC, has launched the CHOZN Platform system, a CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cell expression system that allows for faster, simpler selection and scale-up of high-producing clones for the production of recombinant protein drugs.

The new platform consists of the cGMP-produced and tested CHOZN ZFN Modified GS-/- CHO cell line, an optimized set of cGMP-produced, chemically defined media and specially designed feeds to maximize production of r-proteins. The CHOZN Platform system has been designed and tested to perform from initial cell line engineering process and stable cell line selection, through large-scale growth and production, providing an off-the-shelf production solution for biopharmaceutical developers who do not currently have a cell line platform. Used for the production of biopharmaceuticals, the CHOZN GS-/- cell line is the first commercially available glutamine synthetase (GS) knockout CHO line proven to shorten bioproduction times in early development, enabling customers to enhance their speed to market and decrease costs.

Along with the cells, media and feed, SAFC provides extensive user protocols covering transfection through scale-up to small scale bioreactors, as well as comprehensive cell line safety testing and development history.

"The CHOZN Platform system provides a solid foundation for SAFC's continued cell and media development program," says Bruce Lehr, SAFC director of Cell Sciences and Development. "It has been proven to show a reduction in product development timelines, enabling customers to get their molecules into the clinic faster. Furthermore, it sets the stage for future cell line enhancements to affect characteristics like protein quality, molecule safety and efficacy, as well as improvements to upstream or downstream biopharmaceutical process development."

Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical, organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology manufacturing.