Recommendations for the Assessment and Management of Pre-existing Drug-Reactive Antibodies During Biotherapeutic Development

Anti-drug antibodies (ADA) pose a potential risk to patient safety and efficacy and are routinely monitored during clinical trials. Pre-existing drug-reactive antibodies are present in patients without prior drug exposure and are defined by their ability to bind to a component of the drug. These pre-existing drug-reactive antibodies are frequently observed and could represent an adaptive immune response of an individual who has been previously exposed to antigens with structural similarities to the biotherapeutic. Clinical consequences of these antibodies can vary from no impact to adverse effects on patient safety, exposure, and efficacy, and are highly dependent on biotherapeutic modality, disease indications, and patient demographics. This paper describes how the immunogenicity risk assessment of a biotherapeutic integrates the existence of pre-existing drug-reactive antibodies, and provides recommendations for risk-based strategies to evaluate treatment-emergent ADA responses.