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Review
. 2015 Aug;29(4):215-39.
doi: 10.1007/s40259-015-0133-6.

Fusion Proteins for Half-Life Extension of Biologics as a Strategy to Make Biobetters

William R Strohl  1
Affiliations
Review

Fusion Proteins for Half-Life Extension of Biologics as a Strategy to Make Biobetters

William R Strohl. BioDrugs. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

The purpose of making a "biobetter" biologic is to improve on the salient characteristics of a known biologic for which there is, minimally, clinical proof of concept or, maximally, marketed product data. There already are several examples in which second-generation or biobetter biologics have been generated by improving the pharmacokinetic properties of an innovative drug, including Neulasta(®) [a PEGylated, longer-half-life version of Neupogen(®) (filgrastim)] and Aranesp(®) [a longer-half-life version of Epogen(®) (epoetin-α)]. This review describes the use of protein fusion technologies such as Fc fusion proteins, fusion to human serum albumin, fusion to carboxy-terminal peptide, and other polypeptide fusion approaches to make biobetter drugs with more desirable pharmacokinetic profiles.

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