ATMI and Finesse Solutions Sign Distribution Agreement for Turnkey Bioreactor Systems

ATMI, Inc., a global technology company and a leader in single-use process solutions, announced the signing of a distribution agreement with Finesse Solutions, Inc., a manufacturer of measurement and control solutions for life sciences process applications. Over the last two years, and after several collaborative projects, the relationship between the companies has gained in strategic importance.

This agreement will allow both companies to offer customers seamless support for single-use bioreactor systems enabled by the ATMI single-use Integrity® PadReactor™ system and Finesse SmartSystems™. The solution combines the optimized mixing and gas transfer performance of the space-efficient PadReactor bioreactor with the industry's leading bioreactor control platform and single-use sensors, namely, state-of-the-art TruFluor™ sensors for pH and dissolved oxygen and TruTorr™ sensors for pressure. The integrated system couples the ATMI LifeScience Integrity PadReactor bioreactor with Finesse's G3-series SmartControllers™ and TruBio® 4.X DV software, which are pre-configured for controlling process parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, agitation, gas/liquid flow and auxiliary analog inputs/loops.

The integrated ATMI-Finesse bioreactor system can be purchased in a single transaction with follow-on application and technical support from both ATMI and Finesse. Under the terms of the agreement, Finesse will offer fully-integrated turnkey systems for upstream bioprocessing. Additionally, ATMI will provide all post-point-of-sale customer requirements for PadReactor hardware and disposables while Finesse will support and service the controller, sensors and software.

"Based on the DeltaV® control platform from Emerson, Finesse controllers allow users to scale their processes seamlessly from 1 Liter lab-scale R&D bioreactors into cGMP single-use process trains having volumes up to 2,000 Liters," stated Finesse CEO Barbara Paldus. "By integrating our measurement and control solutions with the PadReactor system, Finesse will be able to offer a superior solution to its customer base for the production of recombinant proteins or vaccines. The end results will include suspension cell configurations as well as the most effective and productive system for micro-carrier based processes in the industry."

Global Director of Business Development for ATMI LifeSciences, Jeffery Craig, added, "The PadReactor system is specifically designed to meet the needs of cell culturists and is perfectly suited to process development, clinical material supply and flexible GMP manufacturing. It has an innovative, cube-shaped bioreactor vessel, which offers functionality that is comparable or better than classical stirred-tank bioreactors. It also includes a single-use bag integrating an internal low-shear mixing paddle and sparger system. It is considerable end-user value that all ATMI bags are made with our in-house produced TK8 film which is designed specifically for cell culture and bioprocess applications."

The PadReactor system is available in sizes ranging from 25 Liter to 1,200 Liter, and has been engineered to work in harmony with Finesse's cGMP-capable, highly configurable SmartSystems which features comprehensive functionality combined with easy process configuration and display.