Drug interference in immunogenicity assays depends on valency

Direct comparison of immunogenicity data is hampered by differential drug interference in different assay formats. In this paper we identify a drug-related factor that influences the extent of drug interference. We systematically investigated the influence of drug valency of different antibody-derived biologicals on the drug interference, using mono- and bivalent formats of adalimumab as a model system. Our results indicate that compared to regular bivalent antibodies, antibody-derived drugs that are monovalent result in less drug interference. Two real-life examples were examined: natalizumab, an IgG4 antibody that becomes effectively monovalent in vivo due to Fab arm exchange, and certolizumab pegol, a pegylated Fab fragment. For both drugs it was demonstrated that drug interference is less pronounced in an antigen-binding test compared to similar assays for other therapeutic antibodies. When comparing immunogenicity data obtained for different biologicals this phenomenon should be taken into account.