A strategic approach to nonclinical immunogenicity assessment: a recommendation from the European Bioanalysis Forum

Immunogenicity assays are required to evaluate anti-drug antibody (ADA) responses that can be generated against biotherapeutic modalities. Regulatory guidelines focus on clinical requirements, yet it has become apparent that industry has applied these clinical recommendations for immunogenicity assessment to nonclinical studies in varying degrees. ADAs are an anticipated outcome of dosing a humanized or fully human biotherapeutic into an animal. However, a nonclinical ADA response is rarely predictive of the immunogenic potential in humans. The addendum to ICH S6 recommends that immunogenicity should be explicitly examined where there is: evidence of altered pharmacodynamic activity; unexpected changes in exposure in the absence of a pharmacodynamic marker or evidence of immuno-mediated reactions. The European Bioanalytical Forum has extensively discussed and reached a consensus on a minimal strategic approach of when and what to include for nonclinical immunogenicity assessments. Additionally, this paper recommends a strategy for ADA assay validation and sample analysis for those cases when it is considered necessary to include an immunogenicity assessment in nonclinical toxicology studies.