cQrex® peptides for increased performance in biopharma cell culture
You may be familiar with our amino acids, specialty carbohydrates, or the plant-based cholesterol PhytoChol®. Our portfolio of cQrex® peptides offers biopharmaceutical companies a wide range of cell culture ingredients manufactured to a consistently high level of quality at trusted, western-based facilities. cQrex® peptides have the versatility to overcome a range of solubility and stability limitations related to specific amino acids. They can also enhance cell culture performance for the production of therapeutic proteins or viral vectors. The cQrex® ingredients are well established for commercial use across the global cell culture industry.
The highest quality amino acids provide you with reliable cell culture media performance
If you are looking for the highest quality cell culture ingredients, you must start with high-quality amino acids. Evonik has been a global leader in the supply of highly pure amino acids for several decades. Here are some of the reasons major media manufacturers and biopharmaceutical companies rely on Evonik as their source of cell culture solutions.
- Our amino acids are non-animal derived and precisely controlled to eliminate impurities including endotoxins and heavy metals.
- As the basis for our cell culture ingredients, our amino acids are fully compliant with cGMP requirements including the use of strict change control policies
- To further reduce regulatory risk, our well-established cGMP manufacturing facilities in Europe and Asia are ISO certified (9001, 14001), and have an excellent inspection record for audits.
cQrex® ingredients ensure quality consistency, reduce risks and improve productivity
Our cQrex® portfolio of peptides is designed to overcome limitations in media formulation and storage stability. Our peptides also help to intensify cell culture processes and drive overall productivity by solving the common stability and solubility challenges of amino acids.
Here are some ways cQrex® can help you improve your cell culture systems:
- To maximize consistency, you can use defined components instead of non-defined complex mixtures to remove a source of risk related to batch-to-batch variation.
- To eliminate the negative effects of excessive salt and pH spikes, you can use soluble peptides that do not require the use of caustic feeds to solubilize sufficient nutrients.
- Our cQrex® peptides help improve titer, boost productivity and get the most out of cell culture processes.
cQrex® ingredients have a long history of use across a variety of commercial biologics programs. They are readily available at commercial scale and manufactured from Western-based facilities.
cQrex®: Greater performance thanks to stable and soluble peptides
Process intensification
- Efficiently metabolized by cells
- Highly concentrated feed, perfusion or basal media
- More nutrients boost cell proliferation and viability
Process simplification
- No need for extreme pH to solubilize ingredients
- Lower risk for bioprocess and operators
- All ingredients in a single, pH-neutral feed
Increased productivity
- Enhanced cell metabolism (growth and viability)
- Increased cell-specific productivity
- Bioreactor used at its full capacity
| Product group | Product | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Glutamine peptides | cQrex® AQ L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine | Classical stabilized source of L-Glutamine, with a fast uptake rate |
| cQrex® GQ Glycyl-L-Glutamine hydrate | Alternative glutamine peptide for cell lines which are sensitive to L-Alanine accumulation | |
| Tyrosine peptides | cQrex® GY Glycyl-L-Tyrosine dihydrate | Soluble source of L-Tyrosine, when high concentrations at neutral pH are needed |
| cQrex® AY L-Alanyl-L-Tyrosine dihydrate | Alternative tyrosine peptide for more flexibility in media design | |
| Cystine peptides | cQrex® AC N,N'-di-L-Alanyl-L-Cystine | Soluble source of L-Cystine for concentrated feeds |
| cQrex® KC N,N-di-L-Lysyl-L-Cystine dihydrochloride | Highly soluble cystine peptide to formulate concentrated basal, feed and perfusion media at neutral pH | |
| Antioxidants | cQrex® AKG α-Ketoglutaric acid | Titer-enhancing additive to protect cells against oxidative damage |
Our cQrex® product range at a glance
Scientific poster: cQrex® peptides for increased performance in biopharma cell culture
Optimized nutrient supply is key to successful cell culture and efficient production of high quality biopharmaceuticals such as therapeutic proteins, vaccines, gene therapies, and cell based therapies. As building blocks of proteins, amino acids are essential culture media ingredients. However, some amino acids have properties that limit their cellular uptake and the bioprocess productivity.
This scientific poster gives you detailled insights about our chemically defined cQrex® peptides, which overcome amino acids limitations and increase performance in biopharma cell culture media.
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How cQrex® boosts cell culture performance
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"If you are looking for ways to more efficient bioprocessing and improved performance, our innovative cell culture solutions will be of great value to you. Contact us to find out how we can support and meet your needs."
Kristina Klinker
Business Development Manager
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Amino acids are essential ingredients in cell culture media as they function as protein building blocks. However, the low stability and solubility of some amino acids such as L-Glutamine, L-Tyrosine and L-Cystine can affect media storage, process intensification and overall productivity in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
To address these challenges, Evonik developed its cQrex® portfolio of highly stable and soluble peptides.
cQrex® peptides are Evonik’s portfolio of chemically defined, non-animal-derived peptides that are designed to overcome solubility and stability challenges of amino acids in cell culture. They enhance media performance, support higher cell viability, and increase bioprocess productivity.
Using the cQrex® peptides to partially or fully replace amino acids in basal, feed and perfusion media helps to increase yields and generate more stable and robust processes.
L-Glutamine is an important amino acid to improve cell performance and growth. However, it is chemically unstable in liquid media, degrading into ammonia and pyroglutamate, which negatively impact cell performance. This instability limits its use in long-term storage and requires last-minute media supplementation.
Evonik offers stable peptides such as cQrex® AQ (L-Alanyl-L-Glutamine) and cQrex® GQ (Glycyl-L-Glutamine). These glutamine peptides are chemically stable forms of L-Glutamine. They are metabolized by cells at different rates which allows for fine tuning of the L-Glutamine supply depending on the cell types and requirements. This enables storage-stable media formulations, reducing contamination risks and improving process efficiency.
L-Cysteine plays an important role in the protection of cells from oxidative stress because it is a building block for glutathione. However, it is highly reactive and readily forms the dimeric L-Cystine which is barely soluble at neutral pH and often precipitates in the media.
Evonik has developed highly soluble peptides such as cQrex® KC (N,N-di-L-Lysyl-L-Cystine) and cQrex® AC (N,N'-di-L-Alanyl-L-Cystine). These peptides offer up to 1000 times greater solubility than free L-Cystine, enabling concentrated media formulations and improved cell productivity.
L-Tyrosine has extremely low solubility at neutral pH (less than 0.5 g/L), making it difficult to incorporate into concentrated media without using extreme pH feeds, which can complicate processes and introduce risks.
Evonik’s cQrex® GY (Glycyl-L-Tyrosine) and cQrex® AY (L-Alanyl-L-Tyrosine) peptides improve solubility by up to 50 times at neutral pH. These peptides simplify media preparation and reduce process risks while maintaining efficient cellular uptake.
Evonik offers the plant-based cholesterol PhytoChol® Biopharma which can be used to supplement defined cell culture media that do not use fetal bovine serum (FBS) and natural lipids. This can help improve cell growth, protein production, virus production and the infectivity of the viruses produced.
We also offer specialty carbohydrates such as D-Mannose and D-Galactose, highly pure, plant-derived powders that fulfil the high-quality requirements of biopharmaceutical cell culture applications.
An additional offering is cQrex® AKG, an α-Ketoglutaric acid that is a titer-enhancing additive to improve energy supply and protect cells against oxidative damage.
