Adam Benton/Kromekat Digital Art & Design
In 1895 two French physicians attempted a radical departure from the standard cancer treatment regimen. Instead of surgery, Charles Richet and Jules Hericourt administered an antiserum derived from dogs to patients with advanced cancer.1 Some patients improved, although significant immunogenicity problems occurred. Lacking specificity and purity, the formulation cured no one.
Now, after a century of setbacks and intermittent successes, therapeutic antibodies – or more specifically, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) – are finally coming into their own. More than 100 such drugs are in clinical trials, and 18 have been approved for use in the United States. Those therapies generated between $5 billion and $6 billion in revenue in 2003, a number that is predicted to triple in the next five years. By one estimate, MAbs will account for 32% of all revenues in the biotech market by 2008.2
"We're really unraveling the understanding ...
