Biopharmaceuticals protection, cure and the real winner

Conventionally, product development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals are based on small molecules and simple chemical processes. Then at the end of the genomic era, the industry was forced to adopt sophisticated biotech-based approaches for innovation of new kinds of pharmaceutical products, termed biopharmaceuticals. Following the industrial transformation, anti-cancer therapy, therapeutic proteins, vaccines and hormone therapy become the major outputs. Specific biopharmaceutical products include insulin for diabetes, erythropoietin (EPO) to treat neutropenia, granulocytes-colony stimulating factors (G-CSFs), growth hormones, and cytokines (for therapeutic purposes). Currently, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are the fastest growing therapeutic proteins in R&D and market globally; targeting at cancer treatment, inflammatory and immune related diseases. Existing cytotoxic drugs have been rejuvenated via conjugation technology with MAbs to improve effects of the former. Lead by mAbs, therapeutic protein market has claimed at least 30% of the total value of biopharmaceuticals in the global market. Cytokines is already in advanced development for treatments of cancers, benign prostatic hyperplasia, gout and inflammatory conditions. Interestingly, insulin has been in the market for a long time, but R&D efforts are still strong especially on new formulation and delivery of oral or other non-invasive dosage. On the other hand, even though many vaccines are already well established in the market, new technologies are still needed to make those vaccines become more potent, cost effective and convenient. Previously, it was almost impossible to accelerate development of vaccines against some diseases as it was limited by technology. Currently, there are many new vaccines against existing targets and vaccines against new targets in the pipeline. Despite numbers of failures in the past, many biopharmaceutical companies are not discouraged to develop difficult vaccines against major problems or complex diseases including malaria, dengue, hepatitis C and HIV. Acute issues on diseases, for instance bio-terrorism, SARS and influenza, became a major growth driver for development of new vaccines and method of production. The cost of producing biopharmaceuticals is nowhere going to be cheap. The advancement of biopharmaceutical industry also stimulates “fringe industries” that supports the entire value chain, for example an improved bio-process technology, chromatography, bio-assay development, preclinical and clinical trials contract research organisation (CRO), sophisticated manufacturing technology, bioinformatics, contract manufacturing organisation (CMO), cold-chain management and logistics. From the business perspective, the requirement for highly specialised knowledge and skilled worker, great amount of funding required for investment and long-term investment horizon with a big loop in J-Curve serve as great barriers to new entrants. Despite the high risks, many sophisticated investors treated this as a great opportunity for potential higher returns from successful investee companies, provided that they are well equipped with the necessary bullets for evaluation, forecasting and making the right decision before joining the party

Serološka srodnost i antigenska prevlast između pet izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga.

The serologic relationship and antigenic dominance among five Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) isolates, designated VBA1, VBA2, VBA3, mA1p and CD, was studied using homologous and heterologous antigens and sera. Cross-serum neutralization test (C-SNT) was used to measure antibody responses to the virus. Generally, close serologic relationships among ADV isolates were noted. Non-significant (P<0.05) variations in the relationship between any two viruses were observed. However, the highest bilateral relationship was observed between VBA2 and VBA3 and between VBA2 and CD isolates of the virus. The antigenic dominance of some viruses over the others was detected with non-significant (P<0.01) levels, although the higher antigenic dominance was observed for CD over VBA3 and mA1p over VBA3 also. In conclusion, neither major serological variations nor antigenic dominance among the five ADVs studied were detected in the present study, hence grouped as one serologic type.Upotrebom homolognih i heterolognih antigena i seruma istraživan je serološki odnos i antigenska prevlast između pet izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga (VBA) označenih VBA1, VBA2, VBA3, mA1p i CD. Unakrižnim serum-neutralizacijskim testom mjerena je količina specifičnih protutijela. Općenito je zapažena jaka serološka srodnost između pretraženih izolata. Uočena su beznačajna odstupanja (P<0,05) u srodnosti bilo koja dva izolata. Međutim, najjača srodnost uočena je između VBA2 i VBA3 te između VBA2 i CD izolata. Ustanovljeno je da antigenska prevlast jednih izolata nad drugima nije bila značajna (P<0,01), iako je uočena nešto veća antigenska prevlast CD izolata nad VBA3 te mA1p nad VBA3. Može se zaključiti da u ovom radu nije zabilježeno ni značajnije serološko odstupanje niti antigenska prevlast između pet istraživanih izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga pa su svrstani u jedan serološki tip

Serološka srodnost i antigenska prevlast između pet izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga.

The serologic relationship and antigenic dominance among five Aujeszky’s disease virus (ADV) isolates, designated VBA1, VBA2, VBA3, mA1p and CD, was studied using homologous and heterologous antigens and sera. Cross-serum neutralization test (C-SNT) was used to measure antibody responses to the virus. Generally, close serologic relationships among ADV isolates were noted. Non-significant (P<0.05) variations in the relationship between any two viruses were observed. However, the highest bilateral relationship was observed between VBA2 and VBA3 and between VBA2 and CD isolates of the virus. The antigenic dominance of some viruses over the others was detected with non-significant (P<0.01) levels, although the higher antigenic dominance was observed for CD over VBA3 and mA1p over VBA3 also. In conclusion, neither major serological variations nor antigenic dominance among the five ADVs studied were detected in the present study, hence grouped as one serologic type.Upotrebom homolognih i heterolognih antigena i seruma istraživan je serološki odnos i antigenska prevlast između pet izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga (VBA) označenih VBA1, VBA2, VBA3, mA1p i CD. Unakrižnim serum-neutralizacijskim testom mjerena je količina specifičnih protutijela. Općenito je zapažena jaka serološka srodnost između pretraženih izolata. Uočena su beznačajna odstupanja (P<0,05) u srodnosti bilo koja dva izolata. Međutim, najjača srodnost uočena je između VBA2 i VBA3 te između VBA2 i CD izolata. Ustanovljeno je da antigenska prevlast jednih izolata nad drugima nije bila značajna (P<0,01), iako je uočena nešto veća antigenska prevlast CD izolata nad VBA3 te mA1p nad VBA3. Može se zaključiti da u ovom radu nije zabilježeno ni značajnije serološko odstupanje niti antigenska prevlast između pet istraživanih izolata virusa bolesti Aujeszkoga pa su svrstani u jedan serološki tip

DNA fingerprinting of red jungle fowl, village chicken and broilers

The genomic mapping of Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus), local Village Chicken, and broiler was carried out by random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) technique. Two different sets of arbitrary primers were used (Operon OPAO1-20 and Genemed GM01-50). All the genomes of the three species of chickens were amplified with OPA01-20 primers. The genomes of the Red Jungle Fowl and local Village Chicken were further amplified with GM01-50 primers. Analysis of the results based on band sharing (BS) and the molecular size of individually amplified DNA fragments showed that Red Jungle Fowl and local Village Chicken shared the species similarity of 66% with Operon primers 01-20, 64% between local Village Chicken and broiler, and 63% when DNA bands between Red Jungle Fowl and broiler were compared. With GM01-50, the BS between Red Jungle Fowl and local village chicken increased to 72%. The results showed that the local village chicken is more closely related to Red Jungle Fowl than to broiler in the genetic distance. On the other hand, broiler is 1% closer in genetic distance to local village chicken than to Red Jungle Fowl. The results also indicated that primers like OPA-7, 8 and 9 can be used as species specific DNA markers for these three species of chickens

Comparison of the restriction enzyme profiles of herpesvirus isolates from captive wildlife

Herpesvirus has been commonly isolated from captive wildlife in animal sanctuaries. Other then identification of the virus, attempts to trace the origin of the virus were initiated based on DNA restriction enzymes (RE) analysis. Two isolates from gaurs (UPMV4/05, UPMV5/05) and an isolate from a Malayan sun bear (UPMV19/05) were examined for a homologous relationship among them. As expected, the DNA from UPMV4/05 and UPMV5/05 showed close RE similarity in comparison to UPMV19/05. The RE patterns from this herpesvirus isolates indicate a possible evolution from the same origin, bovine herpes virus (BHV). The present study showed the DNA of isolates UPMV4/05, UPMV5/05 and UPM19/05 to have an average molecular weight 0f 112x10⁶ Dalton

Adenoviral based gene therapy for cancer in human and animals: a review

Adenovirus vector is the most common used vector in clinical gene therapy. The development of adenovirus from the first generation until the helper-dependent adenovirus vector has greatly reduced toxicity and immunogenicity. The helper-dependent adenovirus can also prolong transgene expression. Tissue- or disease-specific approach has been used to improve the specificity of adenoviral vector for cancer gene therapy. This review summarizes some adenoviral gene therapy and targeting approaches available for human cancer as well as animal cancer