Lecture 1: Biopharmaceuticals

Question 0

What are the advantages of biopharmaceuticals?

Answer 0

Endogenous proteins (eg. Interleukins) are only produced in minute quantities within the body, and are difficult to extract. Biopharmaceuticals overcome the issue of source availability.
Many naturally sourced products (eg FSH from urine) pose safety issues both in their isolation and use. Biopharmaceuticals remove the issue of exposure to, and transmission of diseases.
Biopharmaceuticals production allows for the engineering of therapeutic proteins that have a clinical advantage over the native protein product (greater affinity for receptor, more stable etc)

Question 1

What are biopharmaceuticals? Give examples.

Answer 1

Therapeutic agents produced by modern biotechnological techniques.
Eg. Recombinant proteins, nucleic acid-based products, monoclonal antibodies, whole cell-based products and vaccines.

Question 2

Give an example of a biopharmaceutical product.

Answer 2

Slower and faster release insulin have been developed by modifying the AA sequence of endogenous insulin.