Comparable virus inactivation by bovine or vegetable derived Tween 80 during solvent/detergent treatment.

A mixture of Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TNBP) and Polysorbate 80 (Tween 80) is often used for virus inactivation during the manufacture of medicinal products derived from human plasma. This procedure, known as solvent/detergent treatment, is of high effectiveness for inactivation of enveloped viruses. Tween 80 can be manufactured from bovine tallow or from vegetable material. As the bovine-derived Tween 80 is normally used for the solvent/detergent treatment, the question has been raised whether vegetable-derived Tween 80 can be applied as an alternative substance for the solvent/detergent treatment. Comparable inactivation studies were therefore performed using Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV), Pseudorabiesvirus (PRV), Semliki Forest Virus (SFV) and Bovine Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV). In principle, no differences were observed in the effectiveness of the solvent/detergent treatment when bovine or vegetable-derived Tween 80 was used. The comparability in the efficiency of both detergents for virus inactivation was shown to be independent of solvent/detergent concentration, of temperature (16 degrees C and 6 degrees C vs. 27 degrees C and 25 degrees C) and protein concentration (10% and 5% human albumin). In summary, vegetable-derived Tween 80 is of the same effectiveness as bovine-derived Tween 80, when used for virus inactivation by the solvent/detergent treatment.