AMECRYS · Project

Cutting Antibody Purification Costs by Replacing Expensive Chromatography with Membrane Crystallization

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Making cancer-fighting antibodies is incredibly expensive, and most of that cost comes from one step: purifying them. Right now, the industry uses a filtering material that costs about €25,000 per liter — imagine paying luxury-car prices just for the filter. AMECRYS built a completely different purification system that uses special membranes and tiny molecular templates to grab the right antibodies directly from the production broth, like a lock picking out only the right keys from a pile. The result is a continuous-flow machine that could slash purification costs by more than 60% and shrink the equipment footprint 30 times.

By the numbers

>60%

Reduction in CapEx and O&M costs vs. chromatography

66%

Share of mAb production cost from traditional downstream processing

30-fold

Footprint reduction compared to conventional purification

€25,000

Cost of 1 liter of protein A resin

Consortium partners across 4 countries

The business problem

What needed solving

Purifying monoclonal antibodies — the cancer-fighting drugs that represent a massive and growing market — is absurdly expensive. Traditional chromatography-based purification eats up roughly 66% of total production costs, with the purification resin alone priced at about €25,000 per liter. This cost bottleneck limits who can manufacture these life-saving drugs and keeps treatment prices high.

The solution

What was built

The team built and validated a continuous-flow template-assisted membrane crystallizer prototype at liter scale. This included manufacturing the crystallization vessel and membrane modules, selecting and installing impellers, downstream filtration systems, and nucleation probes, implementing PID controllers, and testing the final integrated product — all designed with pharmaceutical GMP compliance in mind.

Audience

Who needs this

Monoclonal antibody manufacturers looking to cut downstream processing costsCDMOs (contract manufacturers) seeking competitive advantages in biologics purificationBiosimilar producers competing on production cost marginsPharmaceutical equipment companies looking for next-generation purification technologyBiotech startups entering the antibody therapeutics space who need affordable manufacturing

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing

enterprise

Target: Monoclonal antibody producers

If you are a biopharma company manufacturing monoclonal antibodies and spending roughly 66% of your production budget on downstream purification — this project developed a continuous membrane crystallization system that replaces chromatography columns entirely. The prototype promises more than 60% reduction in capital and operating costs while delivering high-purity solid antibody formulations with preserved biological activity.

Contract Development & Manufacturing (CDMO)

mid-size

Target: Contract manufacturers offering biologics purification services

If you are a CDMO looking to offer more competitive pricing on antibody purification contracts — this project built a continuous-flow crystallizer prototype that reduces equipment footprint 30-fold compared to traditional chromatography setups. That means you could process more client batches in the same facility space, and eliminate the recurring cost of protein A resin at €25,000 per liter.

Biosimilar Production

any

Target: Biosimilar drug manufacturers

If you are a biosimilar manufacturer competing on price and need to minimize production costs — this project developed a purification technology that bypasses the most expensive step in antibody manufacturing. By replacing batch chromatography with continuous membrane crystallization, the system targets more than 60% savings on CapEx and operating costs, which directly improves your margin on price-sensitive biosimilar products.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

How much could this actually save on purification costs?

The project objective states the replacement of chromatography with a single membrane-crystallization unit will lead to more than 60% decrease in CapEx and O&M costs. For context, traditional downstream processing based on batch chromatography contributes approximately 66% of the total production cost of monoclonal antibodies. Protein A resin alone costs about €25,000 per liter.

Has this been tested at industrial scale?

The project built and validated a liter-scale continuous prototype designed with recognition of QS/GMP compliance for biopharmaceuticals. This is a working proof-of-concept, not yet a full production-scale system. Further scale-up and regulatory qualification would be needed before commercial deployment.

What is the IP situation and how could we license this?

The project was funded under the FET Open programme (RIA), meaning IP is typically retained by the consortium partners. The coordinator is Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy). Licensing or collaboration discussions would need to go through the consortium, likely starting with the coordinator.

What about regulatory compliance for pharma manufacturing?

The prototype was specifically designed with recognition of QS/GMP compliance for biopharmaceuticals. However, any new purification technology would still require full regulatory validation before it could be used in approved drug manufacturing processes. The GMP-aware design is a significant head start.

How does the physical footprint compare to current systems?

The project claims a 30-fold footprint reduction compared to conventional chromatography-based purification setups. This means a facility currently dedicating an entire room to purification columns could potentially achieve the same output from equipment occupying a fraction of that space.

How long did development take and what is the current status?

The project ran from October 2016 to March 2021 (about 4.5 years) and is now closed. A continuous flow prototype was fabricated, installed and validated. Based on available project data, the technology would need further development and industrial partnership to reach commercial readiness.

Consortium

Who built it

The AMECRYS consortium brings together 9 partners from 4 countries (Belgium, France, Italy, UK), with a mix of 4 universities, 3 research organizations, and 2 industrial partners (22% industry ratio). The coordinator is Italy's national research council (CNR), a major public research body. The relatively low industry participation and zero SME involvement is typical for FET Open projects that push scientific boundaries. For a business looking to adopt this technology, the key question is which industrial partners were involved and whether they plan to commercialize — the 2 industry partners would be the natural bridge to market.

CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHECoordinator · IT
FUJIFILM DIOSYNTH BIOTECHNOLOGIES UK LIMITEDparticipant · UK
GVS SPAparticipant · IT
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINEparticipant · UK
CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION LIMITED LBGparticipant · UK
UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLESparticipant · BE
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRSparticipant · FR
UNIVERSITA DELLA CALABRIAparticipant · IT
UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDEparticipant · UK

How to reach the team

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy — contact through SciTransfer for a warm introduction to the research team.

Order a report on this consortium See CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore how membrane crystallization could cut your antibody purification costs? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the AMECRYS research team and help assess fit for your production setup.

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