The development of biopharmaceuticals is a long and expensive process. A decade or more can elapse between the discovery of a new protein-based active ingredient and the release of a new drug. One major hurdle on this journey is the passage from the lab to clinical trials. As a rule, it takes between 18 months and two years to produce this kind of investigational medicinal product for use in clinical trials. However, at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, researchers from the Division of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology have now developed a production method that reduces this step to just six months.