- FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has introduced ShunzymeX, a purification technology designed to simplify downstream processing of complex biologics.
- The platform, developed with the University of Edinburgh, will be presented at the Festival of Biologics conference in San Diego.
FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has unveiled ShunzymeX, a new purification technology designed to simplify downstream processing for complex biologics. The technology will be presented at the Festival of Biologics conference in San Diego and is intended to support biologics development programmes by streamlining purification during process development.
The platform was developed in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and uses a proprietary protease-based approach. The method adds an affinity tag to the target protein, enabling purification using off-the-shelf affinity resins. After purification, the novel protease removes the tag without altering the native protein structure. According to the company, this process can reduce development timelines and help programmes progress more quickly toward GMP manufacturing and IND-enabling milestones.
The technology addresses challenges commonly associated with microbial downstream purification, where variability in protein size and sequence can limit the availability of suitable affinity resins. Traditional purification processes without a robust affinity chromatography step may require longer development times and can result in lower yield or purity. ShunzymeX is designed to simplify these steps and is compatible with multiple expression systems, with scalability to cGMP manufacturing.
“FUJIFILM Biotechnologies has more than 30 years of experience in microbial innovations, exemplified with our Paveway expression system, coupled with a proven track record in process development and a history of advancing microbial technologies. Together, we believe this innovation will help create a faster path for our customers to commercialization.”
John Stewart, senior vice president of Global Process Development at FUJIFILM Biotechnologies
The company noted that ShunzymeX can also be integrated with SymphonX™, its automated downstream processing system designed to run multiple unit operations within a single platform. The collaboration between FUJIFILM Biotechnologies and the University of Edinburgh began in 2019 with joint funding from UK Research and Innovation to accelerate the development of biologics manufacturing technologies.
