Biopharmaceuticals

A biopharmaceuticals which consists of sugars, proteins, nucleic acids, living cells, or tissues, is a medicinal product manufactured in extracted or semi-synthesized from biological sources like humans, animals, or microorganisms. It has the advantages of targeting only specific molecules, rarely causing the side effects associated with conventional small-molecule drugs, exhibiting high specificity and activity when compared with conventional drugs. Hence, since its introduction in 1982, biopharmaceutical drugs have revolutionized the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases including cancers and metabolic disorders and are increasingly used in nearly all branches of medicine.

Functions of Biopharmaceuticals

The emergence of biopharmaceutical products over the last few decades has revolutionized the fields of many specialties including rheumatology, gastroenterology, allergy and immunology, pulmonology, dermatology, and neurology. Biopharmaceuticals have multiple clinical functions and various advantages for disease therapy, prevention, and diagnosis.

Therapy

Biopharmaceuticals are able to cure or treat diseases safely and effectively by demonstrating biological activity and perform specific functions by acting on the disease pathophysiology. Biopharmaceuticals are more complex in production, have multiple routes of administration and different pharmacokinetics when compared with chemical drugs. In addition, they have the advantages of high selectivity and low nonspecific toxicity. Examples of biopharmaceutical products and their applications are listed in table 1 ^[1,2].

Prevention

A vaccine is the most important biopharmaceutical used for infectious disease prevention. It is available in different types encompassing recombinant, polysaccharide, toxoid, inactivated, and live attenuated vaccines. Biopharmaceuticals can potentially affect different pathways involved in the development of humoral and cellular immune responses to vaccines.

Diagnosis

In addition to clinic significance in therapy and prevention, some biopharmaceuticals can be used to diagnose diseases. For example, radioisotope labeled HAp-based biomaterials can be used for diagnosis or tracking of the uptake by cancer cells.

Table. 1 Examples of biopharmaceutical products and their applications

Biopharma product	Application	Biopharma product	Application
Insulin	Diabetes	Factor VIII	Hemophilia
Erythropoietin	Anemia	Tissue plasminogen activator	Bloot clot
Human growth hormone	Growth deficiency	Glucocerebroidase	Gaucher's disease
Interferon α	Hepatitis	Therapeutic antibodies	Cancer
Interferon β	Multiple sclerosis	Granulocyte colony stimulating factor	White blood cell

Future Prospect of Biopharmaceuticals

Recent biotechnology approaches like genetic engineering and bioengineering help to develop novel biopharmaceutical products. To promote the further development of biopharmaceuticals:

Integration of various technologies and computer engineering approaches will play a vital role on the way forward to achieve circular bioeconomy biomass-based valuable bioproducts.
Recycling of biomass and its conversion is a significant approach for utilization of organic waste and biotransformation of valuable end products;
In addition, the combination of omics resources facilitates the production of more metabolites and bioactive compounds of interest that will ultimately lead to accelerating the drug discovery.

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References

Ram Sarup Singh. Industrial Biotechnology: An Overview. Advances in Industrial Biotechnology, 2014, 1-35.
Chen, Y., & Yeh, M. Introductory Chapter: Biopharmaceuticals. In M. Yeh, & Y. Chen (Eds.), Biopharmaceuticals. IntechOpen, 2018.