RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

Gates Foundation Awards $13.5 Million to Slash Monoclonal Antibody Costs from $100 to $10 Per Gram

- The Gates Foundation has awarded $13.5 million across multiple projects to reduce monoclonal antibody manufacturing costs from the current $50-100 per gram to just $10 per gram, making these life-saving treatments accessible in low-resource settings. - Seven innovative projects are exploring breakthrough approaches including fungal expression systems, continuous flow platforms, and membrane-based purification technologies to replace expensive traditional manufacturing methods. - The initiative targets critical global health needs, with the first application focusing on antimalarial antibodies to address a disease that kills over 500,000 people annually, primarily in Africa. - These cost reduction efforts could transform global access to monoclonal antibody treatments, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where Africa currently holds only 1% of the global mAb market despite high disease burden.