Next Generation Protein Engineering and Drug Design

Summary

Report overview

The success of protein and peptide therapeutics is revolutionizing the biotech and pharmaceutical market, spurring the creation of next-generation products with reduced immunogenicity, improved safety and greater effectiveness. New technologies and genetic and chemical techniques will ensure a competitive edge in developing improved protein and peptide based therapeutics.

Next Generation Protein Engineering and Drug Design provides a detailed insight into the current market for engineered proteins and peptides, and explores the key factors of commercial success for the development of next generation products. This report also provides in-depth analysis of patenting trends and market forecasts to 2011, enabling you to exploit innovative protein engineering technology in your drug discovery process.

Key findings

• The protein engineering market in 2006 was worth almost $67 billion, 10% of total pharma sales, and is forecast to rise to $118 billion, or 12% of pharma sales, in 2011.
• Oncology is the dominant therapy for both monoclonal antibodies and other types of engineered protein, accounting for one-third of sales overall and over 50% of all monoclonal antibodies.
• The top-selling therapeutic protein is Amgen's Aranesp, a re-engineered variant of the company's first-generation product, Epogen (recombinant human erythropoietin).
• Genentech has by far the most protein engineering-related US patents assigned to it (192, 7.4% of the total) and is the most frequently cited assignee, although over half its patents have never been referenced by subsequent US patent applicants.
• Enzon has licensed PEGylated half-life extension technology to Nektar Therapeutics and several refinements and proprietary approaches have recently been developed in this area.
• The last three years have seen the first approvals of products for nonparenteral delivery, alongside advances in parenteral protein and peptide drug delivery.

Key questions answered

• What is the most dominant application for monoclonal antibodies and other types of engineered protein?
• Which companies have been most successful in targeting major clinical markets?
• Which company boasts the most prolific patenting in this area?
• How big is the therapeutic monoclonal antibody market?
• What types of monoclonal antibodies are under development?
• How will transgenic animal herds change the face of manufacturing complex therapeutic proteins?

Key issues examined in this report

• Traditional protein therapeutics have many limitations. In recent years a wide range of technologies has become available for use in protein engineering, which can be used to develop new versions of traditional products with improved characteristics.
• Several antibodies on the market are directed against the same targets. Increased competition is providing an impetus for the development of re-engineered, improved, whole antibody and antibody fragment-based products.
• Immunogenicity is a problem, especially with antibodies. The risk of immunogenicity can be reduced by using fully human recombinant antibodies or human antibodies derived from transgenic mice.
• Patented therapeutic proteins stifle competition. Chemical synthesis of medium-sized proteins is already possible enabling substantial protein re-engineering and may allow new products to be commercialized without risking patent infringement.
• Several profitable protein therapeutics will soon come off-patent. Engineered improvements would allow biosimilar products to be differentiated on the basis of superior characteristics.

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