Assessment of biotechnological products specific activity

The review looks into various aspects of assessing specific activity of biotechnological products, which is one of their key quality parameters. Approaches to the analysis of this parameter and the choice of test procedures are governed by the nature and characteristics of a medicinal product. Test procedures should be adequate and have sufficient sensitivity and specificity. Specific activity of the products in question can be assessed by biological methods both in vivo using laboratory animals, which demonstrate the most adequate response to the tested product, and in vitro using sensitive cell lines. Assessment of specific biological activity helps to characterize the product’s pharmacological action and systematically examine the mechanisms of therapeutic effects in clinical practice. Therefore, specific activity of biotechnological products should be assessed using methods appropriate for the proposed mechanism of action. Many biotechnological products, such as cytokine system products, mAbs, fusion proteins and some others call for individual methods for assessment of their specific activity. Biotechnological products are successfully used in the treatment of autoimmune, infectious, oncological, and allergic diseases.