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Healthcare systems worldwide are struggling to find ways to fund the cost of innovative treatments such as gene therapies, regenerative medicine, and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). As the world's best known mAbs are close to facing patent expirations, the biosimilars market is poised to grow with the hope of bringing prices down for cancer treatment and autoimmune disorders, however, this has yet to be realized. The development costs of biosimilars are significantly higher than their generic equivalents due to therapeutic equivalence trials and higher manufacturing costs. It is imperative that academics and relevant companies understand the costs and stages associated with biologics processing. This article brings these costs to the forefront with a focus on biosimilars being developed for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). mAbs have remarkably changed the treatment landscape, establishing their superior efficacy over traditional small chemicals. Five blockbuster TNFα mAbs, considered as first line biologics against RA, are either at the end of their patent life or have already expired and manufacturers are seeking to capture a significant portion of that market. Although in principle, market-share should be available, withstanding that the challenges regarding the compliance and regulations are being resolved, particularly with regards to variation in the glycosylation patterns and challenges associated with manufacturing. Glycan variants can significantly affect the quality attributes requiring characterization throughout production. Successful penetration of biologics can drive down prices and this will be a welcome change for patients and the healthcare providers. Herein we review the biologic TNFα inhibitors, which are on the market, in development, and the challenges being faced by biosimilar manufacturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel series of thiophene derived Schiff bases and their transition metal- [Co(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II)] based compounds are reported. The Schiff bases act as tridentate ligands toward metal ions via azomethine-N, deprotonated-N of ammine substituents and S-atom of thienyl moiety. The synthesized ligands along with their metal complexes were screened for theirin vitroantibacterial activity against six bacterial pathogens(Escherichia coli,Shigella flexneri,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Salmonella typhi,Staphylococcus aureusandBacillus subtilis) and for antifungal activity against six fungal pathogens (Trichophytonlongifusus,Candida albicans,Aspergillus flavus,Microsporum canis,Fusarium solaniandCandida glabrata). The results of antimicrobial studies revealed the free ligands to possess potential activity which significantly increased upon chelation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-based ethanolamines,(L1)–(L4)coordinated with Co(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) metals in 1:2 (metal:ligand) molar ratio to produce new compounds have been reported. These compounds were screened for their bactericidal/fungicidal activity against a number of bacterial (Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureusandBacillus subtilis) and fungal strains (Trichophyton longifusus, Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporum canis, Fusarium solaniandCandida glabrata) alongside against a shrimp species known asArtemia salina. The screening results indicated that metal complexes have significantly higher activity than uncomplexed ligands against one or more bacterial/fungal species due to chelation. The ligand (L4) displayed good bacterial and fungal activity as compared to other ligands. The antibacterial results revealed that the Zn(II) complex(16)of (L4) was found to be the most active complex and Co(II) complex(14)of the same ligand (L4), demonstrated the highest antifungal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new series of compounds derived from thiophene-2-carboxamide were synthesized and characterized by IR,1H-NMR and13C-NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. These compounds were further used to prepare their Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) metal complexes. All metal(II) complexes were air and moisture stable. Physical, spectral and analytical data have shown the Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes to exhibit distorted square-planar and Co(II) and Zn(II) complexes tetrahedral geometries. The ligand (L1) and its Cu(II) complex were characterized by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction method. All the ligands and their metal(II) complexes were screened for theirin-vitroantimicrobial activity. The antibacterial and antifungal bioactivity data showed that the metal(II) complexes were found to be more potent than the parent ligands against one or more bacterial and fungal strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]