Praktické lekárnictvo 4/2014

Biological drugs from the perspective of pharmacy

Biological drugs or biopharmaceuticals are dynamically expanding group of drugs, in which we include vaccines and hormones, cytokines, antibody fragments and monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are structurally included between „large molecules“ and are produced by a single clone of B-lymphocytes. They exhibit identical antigen specificity. Because of these properties, find their therapeutic application in oncology, in particular, but also elsewhere where it is necessary to minimise undesirable immune or inflammatory response.

Keywords: biological drugs, biopharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibodies, hybridoma technology, targeted therapy.