And the number of antibody drugs is increasing.
Adalimumab was the first fully human monoclonal antibody drug approved by the FDA.
There is only one monoclonal antibody drug on the market, Johnson & Johnson's OKT-3, to help reduce rejection of transplanted organs.
They are the first research company to develop recombinant polyclonal antibody drugs to reach phase two trials.
Until now, Applied Molecular has been using its technology to improve antibody drugs made by other companies, like MedImmune.
The researchers found that the best protection was a combination of cidofovir with a monoclonial antibody drug that fought the effects of interleukin-4.
Among the humanized antibody drugs Tanox developed by itself or with corporate partners:
The promise of monoclonal antibody drugs is that they can be extremely selective, binding with specific targets while not affecting healthy cells.
Like other protein and antibody drugs, omalizumab also causes anaphylaxis, although at a relatively low frequency among antibody drugs.
The allergic reaction toward omalizumab is probably not due to the binding characteristics of the antibody drug, but to the protein nature of the antibody.
