Over the last decade, biologic therapeutic proteins have advanced the treatment of many diseases with therapeutic antibodies such as infliximab, adalimumab, rituximab, tocilizumab, golimumab, certolizumab pegol, just to mention a few. One limitation for the use of therapeutic antibodies is immunogenicity, the induction of antibodies by the adaptive immune system in response to foreign substances.
There are many factors that influence the immunogenicity of biopharmaceuticals, and although in most cases an immune response to a biopharmaceutical has little or no clinical impact, they do pose several potential risks for the patient.