Reducing or Eliminating Polysorbate Induced Anaphylaxis and Unwanted Immunogenicity in Biotherapeutics – Review Article

The increasing use of biotherapeutics across a growing spectrum of neoplastic, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases has resulted in a corresponding increase in hypersensitivity reactions. The origins of anaphylaxis are often attributed to undefined intrinsic properties of the biotherapeutic protein itself, ignoring the broader potential negative contributions of functional excipients, in particular polyoxyethylene containing surfactants such as polysorbate 80 and polysorbate 20 (Tween 80 and Tween 20). These surfactants allow biotherapeutics to meet the stringent challenges of extended shelf-life, increased solubility, protein aggregation prevention, reduced administration volume, and satisfactory reconstitution properties in the case of lyophilized biotherapeutics. The potential negative impact of certain functional excipients on product performance characteristics such as anaphylaxis and immunogenicity is often overlooked. While regulatory authorities understandably focus heavily on comparable efficacy in evaluating biosimilars, similar efficacy does not necessarily imply a similar safety profile between the originator and biosimilar products. Both unwanted immunogenicity and anaphylaxis do comprise major components of safety assessment, however, few if any attempts are made to differentiate drug-related from excipient-related anaphylaxis. Replacement of anaphylactogenic and immunogenic functional excipients with equally effective but safer alternatives will allow biotherapeutic developers to differentiate their biotherapeutic, biosimilar, or biobetter from the large number of nearly identical competitor products, simultaneously providing a substantial commercial benefit as well as critical clinical benefits for all concerned – patients, physicians, and third party payers.