[Biophysical Characterization of Biopharmaceuticals, Including Antibody Drugs]

Biopharmaceuticals, including antibody drugs, are now popular because of their high specificity with low adverse effects, especially in the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. However, because the active pharmaceutical ingredients of biopharmaceuticals are proteins, biophysical characterization of these therapeutic proteins should be required. In this manuscript, methods of chemical and physical characterization of therapeutic proteins are described. In terms of chemical characterization, analysis of chemical modifications of the constituent amino acids is explained. Physical characterization includes higher order structural analysis and assessment of protein aggregates. Quantification methods of aggregates with different sizes, recently encouraged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are introduced. As for the stability of therapeutic proteins, the importance of chemical and physical stability is explained. Finally, the contribution of colloidal and structural stability to the production of an antibody drug less prone to aggregation is introduced.