Purpose <p>Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is regarded as a life-saving biotherapeutic in case of acute disease associated anemia. Several commercially available rHuEPO drug products are present in the market for patient consumption. Since manufacturers use different technologies to produce recombinant drugs, their quality, safety and efficacy becomes imperative as compared with the innovator. Compendial guidelines worldwide have laid down regulations and testing methodologies to ascertain the potency of biomolecular drugs. The current method for potency estimation of rHuEPO samples is animal-based, lengthy, tedious, ethically restrained and shows high variability. The current study employs a rather simple cell-based method that can be used as an alternative to the <i>in vivo</i> methods.</p> Methods <p>A cell proliferation method, with absorbance-based end point, was developed on UT-7 cell line for estimating the potency of rHuEPO products. The developed UT-7 cell line method was validated according to USP and ICH guidelines. The utility of method was further confirmed on different batches of rHuEPO drug products to determine their potency values. These batches simultaneously were analyzed by the existing <i>in vivo</i> method as cross validation studies.</p> Results <p>The results showed high level of reproducibility, precision, accuracy and range. The comparative studies of <i>in vitro</i> with <i>in vivo</i> methods depicted the potency of the batches by both the methods were in the acceptable range of 80–125%</p> Conclusion <p>Though, this method doesn’t account for the additional effects of a closed <i>in vivo</i> system, yet it presents itself as a simple and sensitive method that can be used for regular quality testing of rHuEPO formulations.</p>