Biopharma & Bioprocessing

What if your cell culture media could do more - accelerate upstream productivity, stabilize challenging components, and simplify feeds?

Evonik develops and sells high‑purity, non‑animal‑derived cell culture ingredients that help media providers and biopharma manufacturers achieve higher cell growth, viability, and titers.

We offer chemically defined peptides engineered to solve the solubility and stability limitations of critical amino acids. These ingredients enable concentrated basal, feed, and perfusion media at neutral pH, supporting high-density cultures and improved process performance.

Our cQrex portfolio includes:

• cQrex® AQ (L‑Alanyl‑L‑Glutamine)
• cQrex® GQ (Glycyl‑L‑Glutamine hydrate)
• cQrex® GY (Glycyl‑L‑Tyrosine dihydrate)
• cQrex® AY (L‑Alanyl‑L‑Tyrosine dihydrate)
• cQrex® AC (N,N’‑di‑L‑Alanyl‑L‑Cystine)
• cQrex® KC (N,N’‑di‑L‑Lysyl‑L‑Cystine dihydrochloride)
• cQrex® AKG (α‑Ketoglutaric acid; keto acid for metabolic support)
• cQrex® Carnosine (β‑Alanyl‑L‑Histidine) 

Key benefits of cQrex®

• Enhanced solubility of tyrosine and cystine at neutral pH—enabling high-strength feeds and simplified single-feed strategies.
• Improved glutamine stability—minimizing ammonia formation and extending media shelf life.
• Process efficiency—boosted viability, cell-specific productivity, and antibody titers in CHO processes.

Evonik’s PhytoChol® BioPharma, a plant-derived cholesterol, supports cell culture media that does not use fetal bovine serum (FBS). PhytoChol® BioPharma is suitable for use in a wide range of cell lines including NS0 cell culture for protein production, culture of insect cell lines and culture of packaging cell lines for virus production.

• Sustainable and compliant: Non-animal origin, scalable cGMP production, and part of Evonik’s broader lipid system solutions.

MaxiPure® Polysorbate 80 is an ultra-high purity surfactant. It is used in injectables to enhance solubility and bioavailability, and in cell culture media to improve nutrient solubility and support downstream bioprocessing.

As building blocks of proteins, our high puritiy amino acids are key components of cell culture media used in the production of biopharmaceuticals such as therapeutic proteins or viral vectors.

Evonik offers a portfolio of high-purity, plant-derived specialty carbohydrates designed to enhance the performance of cell culture media in biopharmaceutical production. Our D-Galactose and D-Mannose products provide a balanced energy supply and serve as critical building blocks for protein glycosylation, helping you achieve superior product quality and process efficiency.