ABIRISK

Biopharmaceuticals are drugs that are biological in origin (i.e. are made of proteins or DNA for example) and are manufactured using biotechnology. A number of biopharmaceuticals are already in use and have dramatically improved quality of life for patients with serious, hard to treat conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, haemophilia A and some cancers. However, in some patients, biopharmaceuticals can trigger an immune reaction, a phenomenon known as immunogenicity. When this happens, the immune system produces antibodies (ADAs) that neutralise the drug, which can reduce the effectiveness of the biopharmaceutical. In some patients, the immune response causes side effects such as a rash, chest pains, or a fall in blood pressure. In the most severe cases, it can trigger anaphylactic shock and even prove fatal.

Immunogenicity – the known unknowns
Diverse factors appear to be involved in immunogenicity. On the drug side, both the compound and the route and duration of administration seem to play a role, while on the patient side, the type of disease, age, genetic background and interactions with other medicines may be risk factors.  Therefore it is extremely hard to predict which biopharmaceuticals will have immunogenicity problems; although many tests exist, these are not always accurate. Furthermore, knowing which patients are at greatest risk of mounting an immune response to a given biopharmaceutical is extremely difficult.

Reducing the risks
Even though immunogenicity continues to pose a problem in the development of new drugs, until now there has been no major effort to solve the problem. Enter the ABIRISK project, which aims to give biopharmaceuticals a much-needed boost and represents the first concerted effort to tackle the immunogenicity problem by bringing together leading experts from hospitals, academia, industry and small companies. The project will set up laboratory tests to probe the immunogenicity of several biopharmaceuticals that are already used on patients. The scientists will then match their test findings with the effect the drug actually has on patients. This will help the team to develop tools that are better at predicting immunogenicity during drug development.

Many pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and patient registries have large amounts of data on biopharmaceuticals and patients’ responses to them. In ABIRISK, these diverse databases will be assembled into a single immunogenicity databank that will help researchers pinpoint the factors that influence a drug’s immunogenicity and patients’ risk of it. This will allow the researchers to generate tools that will accurately predict whether a patient will mount an immune response to a biopharmaceutical and how that immune response will affect the efficacy and safety of the drug.

Safer, more effective drugs for patients
Immunogenicity means many patients today are denied the life-changing benefits of biopharmaceuticals. ABIRISK will ultimately result in a new generation of biopharmaceuticals with lower immunogenicity that can be safely and effectively used by more patients. In addition, the project will allow clinicians to determine which patients will respond best to which biopharmaceutical, thereby preventing patients from suffering the side effects of a drug that does not suit them.

For Europe’s pharmaceutical industry, better tests will help companies identify the safest, most effective biopharmaceuticals and weed out those that pose a high immunogenicity risk earlier in the drug development process. This will save companies both time and money. Finally, by adding to our knowledge of the mechanisms behind immunogenicity, the project will help to improve regulatory guidelines for the approval of biopharmaceuticals.

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