A Closer Look at How Single Use Consumables Drive Cost Per Therapy
Panelists:
Fabien Moncaubeig, Chief Platform Officer, Treefrog Therapeutics
R. Lee Buckler, Managing Director, Cell Therapy Group, HighMont Advisors, Inc (Moderator)
Claire State, Sr. Development Engineer, Cell Therapy, Invetech
Matt Yeung, Sr. Principal Engineer, Invetech
Session Description:
Single-use consumables play a far larger role in cell and gene therapy manufacturing than their line-item status suggests. Choices made around design, qualification, supply, and change control can shape cost per therapy, influence validation risk, and either support or limit long-term scalability. From early process development through commercialization, upstream and downstream decisions affect where consumables create value and where they add avoidable complexity. A more deliberate approach can help teams identify cost and risk signals earlier, prevent closure and material constraints, and reduce supplier-related bottlenecks before they slow progress.
Key Takeaways:
• Teams often don’t realize that the cost of single-use consumables extends beyond the consumable itself. Additional cost impactors include manual labor, materials management, and storage. Integrated or custom consumables not only provide value to the process but also help reduce these hidden costs.
• Optimizations to consumable design are often prioritized late in development, if at all. This leads to inefficiencies being locked into manufacturing processes, limiting opportunities to reduce cost when it’s time to scale.
• The best approach isn’t necessarily to optimize everything as early as possible. Successful teams establish a roadmap, understand their long-term manufacturing goals, and prioritize the changes that will have the greatest impact at each stage of development.
• Rapid prototyping is a service that enables consumable design and optimization earlier in the development lifecycle. Partnering with a vendor that can provide this service enables teams to test innovative ideas, quickly refine designs, and pivot when needed to meet process needs over the course of development.
