Economic Analysis of Batch and Continuous Biopharmaceutical Antibody Production: a Review

Purpose There is a growing interest in continuous biopharmaceutical processing due to the advantages of small footprint, increased productivity, consistent product quality, high process flexibility and robustness, facility cost-effectiveness, and reduced capital and operating cost. To support the decision making of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, comparisons between conventional batch and continuous processing are provided. Methods Various process unit operations in different operating modes are summarized. Software implementation as well as computational methods used are analyzed pointing to the advantages and disadvantages that have been highlighted in the literature. Economic analysis methods and their applications in different parts of the processes are also discussed with examples from publications in the last decade. Results The results of the comparison between batch and continuous process operation alternatives are discussed. Possible improvements in process design and analysis are recommended. The methods used here do not reflect Lilly’s cost structures or economic evaluation methods. Conclusion This paper provides a review of the work that has been published in the literature on computational process design and economic analysis methods on continuous biopharmaceutical antibody production and its comparison with a conventional batch process.