Evaluation of wet pasteurization of a factor VIII concentrate produced by controlled-pore silica adsorption

In the routine production of a factor VIII concentrate (produced by adsorption of contaminating proteins in cryoprecipitate to controlled-pore silica and concentration of the factor VIII effluent by ultrafiltration) the terminal dry-heat treatment has been replaced by pasteurization in the liquid state. High effectivity of this procedure with respect to virus inactivation was demonstrated using a variety of both lipid- and protein-enveloped model viruses, including HIV. Pair-wise quality control of dry-heated and pasteurized product revealed no significant differences, except in the composition of the formulation buffer. In a clinical study in which 17 patients with haemophilia A participated the pasteurized product was well tolerated and in vivo recovery and half-life of factor VIII were in the same (normal) range as found for the dry-heated counterpart.