Biologic drugs used to treat cancer and other auto-immune disorders are often beyond the reach of patients, due to their high prices. But IIT-Delhi has developed a platform that strikes at one of the key reasons for the high price—manufacturing.

Biotherapeutics are seen to be “100 to 1000 times more expensive” because of the cost of manufacturing, says Professor Anurag Singh Rathore, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT- Delhi). Rathore was principal investigator for a project that created a continuous processing platform to make biologic drugs. The process reduces cost of manufacturing by 50 to 75 percent, he said.

“Continuous processing is not new in manufacturing,” Rathore told businessline, pointing to sectors like semi-conductors and computers, for example. But when drugmakers shift from batch processing to continuous processing, it can bring down cost, thereby improving access to patients, he says. In fact, it also helps keep the quality of the product more consistent, he says, touching on a point of concern for the bio-pharmaceutical industry.

Rathore was recently awarded the Tata Transformation Prize for healthcare, given by Tata Sons and The New York Academy Sciences. He was one of three winners from 169 entries recognised for innovations in healthcare, food security, and sustainability. The award comes with a ₹2 crore purse.

IIT-Delhi has collaborated with Ipca and Biocon, Rathore said, creating customised platforms for them. Collaborations involve multi-year agreements and a licensing fee, he said, adding that the team was open to partnering with more drugmakers in the country and abroad. About 15 patents have been filed on this novel approach, he added.

The shift to continuous processing would require a significant investment, including a possible overhaul of the old system or creation of a new facility, Rathore explains. However, this would be one-time and the company would subsequently be making more of the product, getting a return on its investment, he added.

There is cost and complexity involved and resources are needed, including a more skilled workforce, he says. “A typical biopharma facility costs ₹200-1000 crore (depending on the size) and a continuous facility will cost the same. Retrofitting a batch facility to convert it into a continuous facility will cost anywhere about ₹50-200 crore,” he explains.

The tech-transfer involves ensuring the manufacturer gets it right to be able to produce more affordable products, and getting regulatory approvals, he points out.

As the IIT-Delhi team looks to take this platform from the lab into more real-world settings, Rathore says, they are also planning to apply continuous processing to VLP (virus like particles) for vaccines and CAR-T which used in cancer therapy.

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