Biological Agents: Monoclonal Antibodies

00:01 Let’s move on to the discussion of the biologic medications used in asthma pharmacology.

00:07 Mepolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that is an injectable form of medication used to treat certain types of asthma.

00:18 It binds to interleukin 5 receptor. It’s used in the treatment of eosinophil based asthma syndromes such as severe eosinophilic asthma or syndrome called eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangitis.

00:33 So these autoimmune processes are involved in eosinophil, interleukin 5 is an integral part of that mechanism.

00:41 Benralizumab is another agent that is also a humanized monoclonal antibody binding to interleukin 5 receptor and treating these eosinophilic syndromes which we've discussed earlier.

00:53 This is a third agent also known as Cinqair which is probably one of the most commonly used of the monoclonal antibody treatments in asthma.

01:03 It also is a humanized monoclonal antibody, binds to interleukin 5 receptor and again it is used in one of the eosinophilic disease called eosinophilic asthma.

01:14 It’s reserved for the severe cases.

01:17 Side effects include mouth pain which can occur in about 2% of patients, fatigue, and some myalgia.

01:25 Omalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to IgE so slightly different area of activity, on sensitized mast cells so this prevents activation by asthma triggers by antigens and it is very expensive but it is also particularly useful in patients who have triggered asthma.

01:50 There you have it.

01:51 These are some of the new agents in asthma medication, they are very complicated, they're very expensive but they tend to have very good side effect profiles and have excellent pharmacological effectiveness.