Biologics: Living Cells Target Your Disease

When I started taking this drug, I noticed the shaking had gone away and the speech impediment went away. I started to remember some things.

Biologic drugs are radically changing the face of medicine, already responsible for many astounding stories of triumph over illness. And yet the promise of biologics their power is just being realized on a path to a breakthrough.

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Chef Felicia Greer was just 35 years old when the fatigue set in and the shaking began.

I got my MRI back. And I could see the shading part of my brain. I'm like, well, that's not normal. And he goes, that's multiple sclerosis. And I sat and I cried for 15 minutes.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that cuts the flow of information between the brain--

And do you get a bit fatigued?

Yes.

--and the body.

Can you pull?

The cause is still unknown. But it's eventual outcome is clear-- pain, severe debilitation, and much more.

I think when people get diagnosed with MS initially, it's a very scary thing. People usually remember the day they're diagnosed. And then they imagine the worst possible future.

It was hard for me to tell my mom. It's hard for me to even talk to my mom and my dad about it today. I didn't want them to see me suffer or I struggle to walk.

Seven years ago, near the start of her treatment, Felicia began taking a drug in a new category of medicines-- biologics.

Tell us about biologics, what they are, and how they work.

DR. AREFA CASSOOBHOY: So biologics are very different from the typical pills that we see in the pharmacy. They're very complex compounds. And what makes them complex is that they have living matter in them. Pieces from living cells, human cells or microorganisms, are incorporated into the structure.

To make the biologics, biologists take these living cells and manipulate their DNA, essentially programming them to fight a specific disease. Then, the structure is literally grown and multiplied until it is ample enough to be given to a patient.

Felicia's drug, Tysabri, was developed by Dr. Larry Steinman's lab.

What you do is put in the gene for what you want to make, and put them in AN incubator. They're very complex, so there's a whole field of chemical engineering of biologics.

Not everyone responds to each biologic drug. And they are not without side effects. But the effectiveness of these drugs in several diseases, like ms, has been profound.

When I started taking this drug, I noticed changes, like eight months out of it. The shaking had gone away. The headaches kind of subsided. I had a little bit more energy.

Felicia's biologic drug works by manipulating her immune system. The drug is designed to track down the cells within the immune system that are causing the disease. It attaches to those cells and destroys them.

But they are not cheap. Biologics can run several thousand dollars a month.

All right, the money question. The money question. It really is very expensive. It's very hard to have a generic version of it, though there is something called biosimilar that will reduce the cost. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes, the biologics are costly. There's no doubt about it. Biologics have been around for a while. And so now with the patents running out, we will see what are called biosimilars coming to the market.

So it's kind of like a generic that you'd have for a regular drug. But generics are exact copies of a medication. And this is very, very close. And the reason for that is the biologics are such complex structures that it's difficult to completely copy them. The goal, though, with biosimilars is that they will treat an illness in the exact same way the biologic will.

No one knows yet if these upcoming biosimilars will be as effective as the current crop of biologics. But most in the field have high hopes. And with even more biologic drugs getting ready to be introduced, patients can look for greater options in their treatment plan.

There is great hope for further developments in cancer and autoimmunity.

And for patients like Felicia, the revolution in biologics is life-changing.

Now I walk in somewhere and people know me. And they say, what's going on. I'm tired. Why are you tired? I don't feel. Why? I said, I have multiple sclerosis. They're like, no you don't. I'm like, yeah, I do. They're like, really?

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