background while there is currently no cure for multiple sclerosis (ms), treatment with biologic diseasemodifying drugs (bdmds) can reduce the impact of the condition on the lives of patients. in greece, the regulatory change in the distribution system of bdmds, limited their administration through the designated pharmacies of the national organization for healthcare services provision (eopyy) ...

1Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; 2Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia; 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC; and 4Centre for Biologics Research,...

BACKGROUND Advances in therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), particularly biologics, have transformed the treatment paradigm for RA. However, the associated costs of these therapies result in a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. As a chronic disease requiring lifelong treatment, most health plans now position RA drugs as a high-priority therapeutic category. OBJECTIVE To...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of overlapping immunogenic peptides between three pharmaceutical biologics and influenza viruses. Clinical studies have shown that subsets of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) develop anti-drug antibodies towards anti-TNFα biologics. We postulate that common infectious pathogens, including influenza viruses, may sensitize RA patients to...

As the patents associated with the biologics are set to expire in the near future, a new type of therapy appears on the horizon, and it is quite similar to the biologics. This commentary examines the biomedical and market issues surrounding the advent of biosimilars.

This is an analysis from a chemical point of view of the 46 drugs (34 New Chemical Entities and 12 Biologics) approved by the FDA during 2017. The drugs included in the 2017 "harvest" have been classified on the basis of their chemical structure: biologics (antibodies and proteins); peptides; amino acids and natural products; drug combinations; and small molecules.

Taking the technological advances into account, the requirements for follow-on biologics have been discussed in the research project funded by the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants: “Research on Evaluation of Quality, Efficacy, and Safety of Follow-on Biologics” (led by Dr. Toru Kawanishi, Principal Investigator, who is Director for Division of Drugs, National Institute of Health Scien...

While the immune system protects organisms from infections, it can also react adversely to certain therapeutic interventions such as biologics that target various components of the immune system. Monitoring the responsiveness of the immune system to therapeutic interventions is crucial. This process, called immune monitoring, helps determine the safety and efficacy of therapeutic agents like va...

Biologics have revolutionised the treatment of RA due to their efficacy, speed of onset and tolerability. Increasing evidence suggests that early intervention is the key to combating RA. The future challenge is to find the best time to introduce biologics into the treatment paradigm in the hope of inducing disease remission--something unthinkable even a decade ago.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the trends in patterns of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biological agents use from 1999 to 2009 and to identify patient characteristics associated with different patterns of their use in a national sample of Veterans with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). DESIGN A retrospective cohort study. SETTINGS Administrative databases of the USA Department of Vete...