Second-Generation Pharmaceutical Proteins - EUFEPS Workshop on Optimizing Biotech Medicines

The European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) Workshop on Optimizing Biotech Medicines focused on recent research for pharmaceutical proteins, and was attended by approximately 100 participants, mostly from biotech companies. Present and future advancements in the field of therapeutic proteins were discussed, and the meeting included an emphasis on the use of antibodies as drugs. In opening remarks, Dean Crommelin (Top Institute Pharma, the Netherlands) and Ulrike Holzgrabe (University of Würzburg, Germany) focused on the increasing importance and value of biotech drugs, which increased in number by 18% in 2006 to account for approximately 10% of the total drug market. However, such an increase requires an important reconsideration and development of basic factors such as the preparation and use of therapeutic proteins, the capability of protein production by biotech pharma, immunogenicity side effects, new analytical processes, and specially devised formulations.