Antibody therapy harnesses the power of the immune system to treat diseases such as autoimmunity, inflammation, infection and cancer. FDA-approved therapeutic antibodies sold by pharmaceutical companies are developed to bind to specific markers on cells, blocking or activating key biologic signaling pathways and cellular networks.
Research in this field is growing because antibody therapy offers the advantages of:
- High target specificity
- Lower side effects as compared to many small-molecule drug therapy
- Amplifying the immune system response
Antibodies against proteins typically expressed in conditions of immune cell dysregulation can be used in research to study disease mechanisms and further the development of other treatment options. Access to reference therapeutic antibodies for research use is limited and expensive so investigators need a generic surrogate, termed a biosimilar.
Biosimilar antibodies are typically an amino acid sequence copy of their originator FDA-approved therapeutic antibodies, called reference products. They generally have the same mechanism of action as the reference drug and are used in research to understand how therapeutic antibodies work, with the goal of designing the next generation of antibody-based biologics. BD has developed research-grade biosimilars to help further research studies in this field.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
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