Biobetters

Over the last few decades, biopharmaceuticals have transformed many areas of healthcare and have given hope and extended the lives of many patients. Curative treatments, however, remain elusive in most cases. This book describes strategies to develop improved versions of biopharmaceuticals ("biobetters") to bridge the gap between existing therapies and curative therapies. With an aim to stimulate research and development in a wide array of therapeutic areas, diverse topics are covered, including the following: tissue specific targeting of enzyme replacement therapies; the development of novel protein structures with the potential to improve upon critical attributes of current monoclonal antibodies; the modification of current monoclonal antibody designs to improve their in vivo stability; and finally, the economic and regulatory considerations for the development of biobetters.

Dr. Amy Rosenberg received her M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. She was a post-doctoral fellow in Al Singer's Laboratory in the NCI before coming to CBER, FDA. She is Director of the Division of Therapeutic Proteins, a division that regulates diverse protein therapeutics, including enzyme replacement therapies, hematologic and somatic cell growth factors and immunomodulatory agents including interferons and interleukins. Her particular interests are in tolerance induction in diverse clinical settings including autoimmunity, therapeutic protein immunogenicity and transplantation.
Dr. Barthélemy Demeule obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he started his investigations on the physico-chemical stability of biopharmaceuticals. After a postdoctoral work at Genentech, Inc. focused on the effect of the in vivo environment on antibody-antigen interactions, he stayed in the company where he held positions of increasing responsibilities. He currently leads a group of scientists responsible for the pharmaceutical development of monoclonal antibodies in the last phases of clinical development. He also serves on the editorial board of the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.