Research and development of therapeutic mAbs: An analysis based on pipeline projects

Abstract

As the subject of active research and development (R&D) in recent decades, monoclonal antibodies have emerged among the major classes of therapeutic agents for treatment of many human diseases, especially cancers, infections, and immunological disorders. This article surveys the landscape of R&D projects of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which are mostly used for disease immunotherapy, from a number of perspectives, including therapeutic indications, development phases, participants, and citation of related patents. The results of this research can be used as a reference resource for pharmaceutical researchers, investors, and policymakers in the field of therapeutic mAbs.

Keywords: R&D; development trends; monoclonal antibody; patent citation network; pipeline projects; therapeutic application.

Figure 1.

Therapeutic categories of mAbs. Category of “others” includes eye diseases, respiratory diseases, metabolic diseases, etc.

Figure 2.

Immunotherapeutic patterns of anti-cancer mAbs.

Figure 3.

The trend and proportion of mAbs-related R&D over time.

Figure 4.

Share of mAbs-related R&D programs at different pipeline phases. The designations of the phases of the projects are based not fully on definitions by regulatory authorities but on company definitions endorsed by IMS Health.

Figure 5.

The top 25 organizations involved in mAb R&D.

Figure 6.

Patent citation network of mAbs. Nodes represent patents; edges represent the citation relationship between patents. Different colors indicate patents associated with different therapeutic areas. Colors corresponding to the specific therapeutic areas mentioned above, with the exception of purple nodes, which represent patents in multiple therapeutic areas.