The drug is a bioengineered antibody to a crucial natural protein called Rank-ligand that appears to play a central role in initiating the bone breakdown process.
Developed using technology from partner Seattle Genetics, the drug is a monoclonal antibody containing a toxic chemotherapy that attacks cancer cells if they express glycoprotein NMB, or GPNMB.
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Xolair is a monoclonal antibody to IgE that works like a Star Wars missile defense for allergies, binding to and inactivating excess IgE before it can trigger an attack.
But Perlmutter and Morrow both insist that they're not repeating big pharma's mistakes--that instead, with a new antibody codenamed AMG 162, they will offer patients with weakening bones a new, more convenient and possibly more effective treatment.
So it ought to be possible to test for the presence of a certain antigen on a surface by dragging a suitable antibody over it, and seeing if it gets stuck going fishing, in effect, on a molecular scale.
By 1993 the company had designed a monoclonal antibody to VEGF that slowed tumor growth in animals.
Among the furthest along in the pipeline is a monoclonal antibody called elotuzumab from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
The firm's researchers can produce billions of viruses, each with a different binding site from a human antibody.
This was controversial at first, but Slamon persuaded Genentech to test a monoclonal antibody that would block this protein.
So far Innogene has produced TherCIM, a monoclonal antibody for targeted cancer therapy that is already marketed in Southeast Asia.
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Biogen scientists crafted decoys by cloning and attaching the binding site of LFA-3 onto the Y-shaped tail of a harmless antibody.
Xolair is a biological compound, called a monoclonal antibody, that attaches itself to immunoglobin E, one of the body's defensive weapons that goes into overdrive in allergy patients.
Tysabri, by contrast, will probably never face true generic competition, because it is a type of drug called a monoclonal antibody that will be much harder to produce cheaply.
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The most successful offspring is Idec Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: IDPH - news - people ), which, with help from Genentech, developed Rituxan, a monoclonal antibody for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Other notes: CDX-011 is a monoclonal antibody drug conjugate.
One of the studies it helped fund has led to a promising antibody-based treatment called anti-PD-1, which activates the immune system against cancer and helps shrink or eliminate tumors in melanoma, lung, and kidney cancer patients.
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In July, Elan and Wyeth unveiled anemic initial trial results for a widely touted antibody against the brain plaques thought to be a culprit in the disease.
Investors apparently expected information about a new anti-Alzheimer's antibody or a new version of an Alzheimer's vaccine that was pulled from clinical trials after it caused brain problems.
Among their projects: developing a hybrid anticancer compound that combines an antibody with a cancer-targeting small molecule and using algae to quickly grow human antibodies that zero in on herpes.
It is a human monoclonal antibody that attacks the toxins anthrax bacteria spew out.
Eli Lilly is still developing a similar, but not identical, antibody, and Pfizer has a third in the earlier stages of clinical research.
An injectible antibody for a target protein called CTLA4 has shown promise in melanoma.
An antibody is a protein that has been tailored to stick to just one sort of molecule.
Of particular interest is an antibody for a growth factor called IGF-1 that is related to the same biochemical pathway Erbitux hits.
An antibody is a protein that binds to a hostile invading organism.
Dr Hinterdorfer and his team tested this idea by applying a coating of an antigen (an enzyme called lysozyme) to a mica sheet, and suspending an appropriate antibody from the tip of an atomic-force microscope with a flexible polymer tether.
At the moment, however, picking the antibody appropriate to a particular disease is still something of a craft.
So on his own he crafted a human version of the antibody, otelixizumab, and cofounded Tolerx in 2000 to commercialize it and other drugs.
Lucentis, approved in June for wet AMD, is essentially a fragment of the monoclonal antibody that was used to make the company's colon cancer drug Avastin.
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