Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system that seek out, recognize and bind to a particular site on cells, viruses and other organisms in a highly specific manner. This specificity makes antibodies useful in the treatment of many types of disease. In addition, antibody products generally have a shorter development time when compared with typical small molecule drug development. Medicine is entering the Age of Antibodies Worldwide, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as universities, are exploring monoclonal antibody technology to develop new therapeutic and in vivo diagnostic products. Hundreds of antibodies are in development for the treatment of virtually every life-threatening or debilitating disease.
Antibodies are a major category of biotechnology products being tested in human clinical trials.
Therapeutic antibody products are currently on the market for a variety of indications, including cancer, heart disease, and transplant rejection. By mid-2000, nine monoclonal antibody products developed by other companies had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use as therapeutic products in the United States. A monoclonal antibody is a type of antibody produced from a single cell known as a hybridoma. All antibodies produced by the hybridoma are identical and bind to the same specific target in the same way. Until recently, antibody-based products have typically contained mouse or other animal proteins.