Biologics in General Medicine (eBook)

Wolf-Henning Boehncke is a scholar of the German Scholarship Foundation. His research work has been supported by continuous funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). He was awarded numerous prestigious prizes including the Galenus-von Pergamon Prize. Currently, he is head of the Allergy/Immunology Section at the Center for Dermatology at Frankfurt University. He is a member of numerous national and international boards involved in setting up guidelines for the clinical use of biologicals. Heinfried H. Radeke is holding the Dr.-Schleussner-Foundation of Immune Pharmacology professorship. His research work has been supported by continuous funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). His specialization is in pharmacology, clinical pharmacology and immunology. His numerous publications reflect the intensive research he has been doing for the past 15 years in the fields of chronic inflammation, transplantation and immune pharmacology. He is actively involved in the establishment of the new B.Sc./M.Sc. studies in Molecular Medicine at Goethe University Frankfurt. He is also involved in the development of the curricula and the lecture courses of the recently established graduate college "Biologicals" (GK1172) at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Preface 5
Contents 6
List of Contributors 13
Introduction: Definition and Classification of Biologics 17
Development and Pre- clinical Pharmacology of Biologics 19
Infliximab: From the Idea to the Product 20
Adalimumab 29
Etanercept 47
Efalizumab: Antibody Characteristics, Mode of Action and Preclinical Development 57
Monoclonal Antibody Targeted Radiation Cancer Therapy 65
The Production of Biopharmaceuticals 74
Disease- Specific Applications and Clinical Trials 82
Treating Autoimmune Bullous Skin Disorders with Biologics 83
Biologics in Psoriasis 95
Biologic Agents in Psoriatic Arthritis 111
Biologic Therapies for Rheumatoid Arthritis Targeting TNF- a and IL- 1 125
Biologics in Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis: Focus on Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonists 138
Multiple Sclerosis: New Immunobiologics 155
Biologics in Cutaneous Lymphoma 161
Biologics in Targeted Cancer Therapy 167
Safety and Perspectives 180
Safety Aspects of Biologics: Lessons Learnt from Monoclonal Antibodies 181
New Biological Therapeutics in the Genome Age 187
Evidence Based Medicine’s Perspective on Biologics 196
Subject Index 199