Removal and inactivation of bovine herpes virus and murine encephalomycarditis virus by a chromatography, pasteurization, and lyophilization during the manufacture of urokinase from human urine

The purpose of present study was to examine the efficacy of PAB (para-amino benzamidine) affinity column chromatography, pasteurization ($60^{\circ}C$ heat treatment for 10 h), and lyophilization steps, employed in the manufacture of urokinase from human urine, in the removal and/or inactivation of urine-born viruses. Bovine herpes virus (BHV) and Murine encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) were selected for this study. Samples from the relevant stages of the production process were spiked with the viruses and the amount of virus in each fraction was quantified by 50% tissue culture infectious dose ($TCID_{50}$). BHV and EMCV were effectively partitioned from urokinase during PAB chromatography with the log reduction factors of 6.71 and 5.27, respectively. Pasteurization was a robust and effective step in inactivating BHV and EMCV, of which titers were reduced from initial titers of $8.65\;log_{10}\;TCID_{50}$ and $7.81\;log_{10}\;TCID_{50}$, respectively, to undetectable levels within 1 hour of treatment. The log reduction factors achieved during lyophilization were 2.06 for BHV and 4.54 for EMCV. These results indicate that the production process for urokinase has sufficient virus reducing capacity to achieve a high margin of virus safety.