Grace Launches ProVance Disposable Protein A Chromatography Columns to Help Reduce Costs and Time to Market for Biologics

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Columns Pre-packed with High-Capacity Silica Resin Improve Drug Purification Productivity

Columbia, MD, USA, April 4, 2014 / B3C newswire / -W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA) announced the launch of ProVance™  pre-packed Protein A columns at Bioprocessing Development Week in San Diego, CA USA and the Bioprocess International Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. ProVance™ columns are a high-performance disposable chromatography solution to help meet the growing demand for downstream purification. Increasingly, major biopharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Boehringer Ingleheim, and Shire among others are shifting to single-use manufacturing for greater portability, scalability, and “rapid deployment” of biologics. Single-use technology offers unparalleled flexibility while reducing risk of contamination at multi-product facilities typical of contract manufacturing organizations.

Until now, there has not been a cost-effective Protein A chromatography option for single-use manufacturing facilities. ProVance™ columns combine Grace proprietary incompressible silica with cost-effective Protein A and disposable column hardware.  The high capacity columns can reduce operating costs by 40-60 percent and are ideally suited for single-batch or single-campaign use eliminating the need for significant cleaning validations and long-term storage.

ProVance™ columns are available in a range of sizes for early screening and up to full-scale GMP manufacturing. Columns for use in GMP manufacturing come complete with documentation for regulatory support, shipping studies, and leachables, and extractables. More information is available at: www.grace.com/provance.


About Grace
Grace has been manufacturing silica resins for the chromatography industry for more than 30 years and is a leading global supplier of catalysts; engineered and packaging materials; and specialty construction chemicals and building materials. The company provides innovative products, technologies, and services that improve the products and processes of our customer partners around the world. Grace employs approximately 6,500 people in over 40 countries and had 2013 net sales of $3.1 billion.


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