Pharmaceutical grade large-scale plasmid DNA manufacturing process.

For pharmaceutical applications of plasmid DNA, either direct or indirect, certain quality standards are required. Whereas for direct gene transfer into human "Good Manufacturing Practice" (GMP) grade is mandatory, for GMP production of, e.g., viral vectors (AAV, etc.) the plasmid DNA used needs not necessarily be produced under GMP. Besides such regulatory aspects up-scaling of the plasmid DNA production process from research laboratory scale (up to a few milligrams) to industrial scales (milligram to gram scales) is an issue that is addressed here.