A fit-for-purpose strategy for the risk-based immunogenicity testing of biotherapeutics: a European industry perspective.

There is much debate in the pharmaceutical industry on how to translate the current guidelines on immunogenicity testing for biotherapeutics into a testing strategy that suits the specific requirements of individual drug candidates. In this paper, member companies from the European immunogenicity platform (EIP) present a consensus view on the essential requirements for immunogenicity testing of a biotherapeutic throughout the various phases of drug development, to ensure patient safety and to enable successful market entry. Our aim is to open the debate and provoke discussion on this important topic which is unique to biotherapeutic drug development. The scope of this paper is limited to aspects relevant to biotherapeutic drug development and does not include fundamental academic studies of immunogenicity.