Engineered antibodies now represent over 30% of biopharmaceuticals in clinical trials, as highlighted by recent approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration. Recombinant antibodies have been reduced in size, rebuilt into multivalent molecules and fused with, for example radionuclides, toxins, enzymes, liposomes and viruses. The emergence of recombinant technologies has revolutionized the selection, humanization and production of antibodies, superseding hybridoma technology and allowing the design of antibody-based reagents of any specificity and for very diverse purposes.
- Peter J. Hudson
- Christelle Souriau