Biopharmaceuticals, safety assessment species selection

Figure 9.1 Proposed rank ordering of methods informing species selection for safety assessment of biopharmaceuticals. Various methods used for selecting pharmacologically relevant species for toxicological studies of biopharmaceuticals are presented, ordered (top to bottom) by the extent to which the data might impact the decision on which species to use. In cases where the methods are further discussed in this chapter, the relevant figure/table numbers are provided. These types of analyses may also be used for creating data packages for small molecules, although not typically for species selection.

Biopharmaceuticals represent a broad but discrete class of large molecular weight therapeutic entities that are characterized by their specific pharmacological activities and distinctive pharmacokinetics. The selection of an appropriate animal model is dependent on a combination of PD and PK factors. As described in this chapter, it is essential to understand the relationship of the basic pharmacology of a biopharmaceutical (signaling, receptor presence, binding properties, etc.) and the associated PK properties to that expected in humans, in order to select animal species that will have the most predictive value in safety assessments. 

The impact of the drug attributes of biopharmaceuticals on preclinical safety assessment programs for oncology products is not unique to this therapeutic area. As is true for all biopharmaceuticals, species cross-reactivity must be determined prior to selection of an appropriate animal model for safety evaluation. The nature of cross-reactivity can be based on a combination of phar-... 

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