Compositions of programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) antibodies and methods of obtaining the compositions thereof

A method of obtaining a purified composition comprising anti-human PD-1 antibodies or antigen-binding fragments thereof, wherein the anti-human PD-1 antibodies or antigen binding fragments thereof comprise a light chain variable region comprising three light chain CDRs comprising CDRL1 of SEQ ID NO:1, CDRL2 of SEQ ID NO:2 and CDRL3 of SEQ ID NO:3 and a heavy chain variable region comprising three heavy chain CDRs of CDRH1 of SEQ ID NO:6, CDRH2 of SEQ ID NO:7 and CDRH3 SEQ ID NO:8, comprising the steps of:

• a) perfusing Chinese Hamster Ovary host cells in cell culture medium in a perfusion bioreactor by applying a perfusion rate of at least about 0.25-6.0 vessel volume per day (vvd), wherein the host cell comprises a polynucleotide encoding the light chain variable domain and a polynucleotide encoding the heavy chain variable domain, or a polynucleotide encoding the light chain variable domain and the heavy chain variable domain, of the anti-human PD-1 antibodies or antigen-binding fragments thereof, wherein a cell culture broth is formed in the perfusion bioreactor;
• b) continuously harvesting the antibodies or antigen-binding fragments thereof from the cell culture broth to obtain a harvest cell culture fluid;
• c) transferring the harvest cell culture fluid (HCCF) to a surge vessel for a mean residence time of 15 to 45 minutes, or a residence time of about 0.5 to 30 hours;
• and
• d) continuously purifying the harvest cell culture fluid with an affinity chromatography step to obtain the purified composition.