IIT Delhi’s Anurag Rathore Says Antibody Costs Fell to $12 per Gram
Antibody manufacturing costs drop to twelve dollars per gram at IIT Delhi
Most of the global population as of today cannot afford to take or avail of these best-in-class therapeutics, Anurag Rathore, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, stated in an interview. Research at IIT Delhi has driven antibody manufacturing costs down from approximately $35 per gram to about $12 per gram.
The cost reduction targets a critical hurdle in global healthcare accessibility. Biotherapeutic products such as monoclonal antibodies remain out of reach for a majority of patients worldwide due to prohibitive production expenses. Rathore noted that the project is closing in on a $10-per-gram target established by a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges call, which highlighted that manufacturing costs have stagnated at roughly $50 to $100 per gram.
Cell culture media drives initial savings
A cost-of-goods analysis identified cell culture media as the largest single cost driver in monoclonal antibody production. Rathore’s team collaborated with a major cell culture media supplier to demonstrate that an alternative media priced at roughly half the usual cost could maintain a reasonably efficient manufacturing process. Implementing changes of that scale is fairly straightforward for commercial producers.
Rathore emphasized that efficiency gains do not stem from cutting corners or omitting process steps or purification. The team preserved a conventional process structure while refining input costs. Shilpa Gadgil, vice president for bioprocess development at Enzene, described commercial continuous platforms as a market reality rather than a pilot phase in a BioPharm International interview.
Continuous processing expands across commercial facilities
Further economic efficiencies rely heavily on process intensification techniques. Continuous chromatography and continuous ultrafiltration or diafiltration offer substantial reductions in overall manufacturing expenditures. LifeArc characterizes the IIT Delhi initiative as a pilot of a continuous processing platform aimed at supporting affordable production across low- and middle-income nations.
Adopting continuous operations presents operational hurdles for facilities lacking prior experience with the technology. Producers typically embrace these methods gradually through piecemeal integration, intensifying isolated unit operations rather than converting entire processes simultaneously. Companies are already implementing continuous processing for specific unit operations within their workflows.
Adoption trends point toward dual expansion trajectories over time. A growing number of manufacturers are expected to incorporate continuous operations, while individual facilities continue to intensify multiple unit operations within their existing infrastructure. These developments were a focal point during discussions at the AAPS PharmSci 360 2026 conference held from October 24 through October 28 in New Orleans.