US Patent 8946395 Purification of proteins using hydrophobic interaction chromatography

The present invention is directed to methods for purifying a protein of interest, e.g., an antibody, from a sample comprising the protein of interest and at least one impurity, e.g., an aggregate, by employing a hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) method that allows for binding of both the protein of interest and the at least one impurity under strong binding conditions. The present invention is based, at least in part, on the finding that both flow through and bind-elute techniques can be combined to achieve greater purification and recovery of a protein of interest, e.g., an antibody, under isocratic wash conditions and strong binding conditions.