• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.495-503
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• 2011

When a patent of an innovative (brand-name) small-molecule drug expires, generic copies of the innovative drug may be marketed if their therapeutic equivalence to the innovative drug has been shown. The small-molecule drugs are considered therapeutically equivalent and can be used interchangeably if two drugs are shown to be pharmaceutically equivalent with identical active substance and bioequivalent with comparable pharmacokinetics in a crossover clinical trial. However, the therapeutic equivalence paradigm cannot be applied to biosimilars since the active ingredients of biosimilars are huge molecules with complex and heterogeneous structures, and these molecules are difficult to replicate in every detail. The European Medicine Agency(EMEA) has introduced a regulatory biosimilar pathway which mandates clinical trials to show therapeutic equivalence. In this paper, we discuss statistical considerations in the design and analysis of biosimilar cancer clinical trials.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.2493-2496
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• 2010

Erythropoietin (EPO) is mainly produced in kidney and stimulates erythropoiesis. The use of recombinant EPOs for doping is prohibited because of its performance enhancing effect. This study investigated whether biosimilar EPOs could be differentiated from endogenous one by iso-electro-focusing plus double blotting and SDS-PAGE for antidoping analysis. The established method was validated with positive control urine. The band patterns were reproducible and meet the criteria, which was made by world anti doping agency (WADA). Isoelectric focusing was conducted in pH range 2 to 6. Recormon (La Roche), Aropotin (Kunwha), Epokine (CJ Pharm Co.), Eporon (Dong-A), Espogen (LG Life Sciences), and Dynepo (Shire Pharmaceuticals) were detected in basic region. All biosimilars showed discriminative isoelectric profiles from endogenous EPO profiles, but they showed different band patterns with the reference one except Epokine (CJ Pharm Co.). Next, SDS-PAGE of biosimilar EPOs resulted in different molecular weight patterns which were distributed higher than endogenous EPO. Commercial immune assay kit as an immune affinity purification tool and immobilized antibody coated magnetic bead were tested for the purification and concentration of EPO from urinary matrix. The antibody-coated magnetic bead gave better purification yield. The IEF plus double blotting and SDS-PAGE with immunoaffinity purification method established can be used to discriminate biosimilar EPOs from endogenous EPO.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.14-24
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• 2020

Google Trends is a useful tool not only for setting search periods, but also for providing search volume to specific countries, regions, and cities. Extant research showed that the big data from Google Trends could be used for an on-line market analysis of opinion sensitive products instead of an on-site survey. This study investigated the market share of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitor, which is in a great demand pharmaceutical product, based on big data analysis provided by Google Trends. In this case study, the consumer interest data from Google Trends were compared to the actual product sales of Top 3 TNF-α inhibitors (Enbrel, Remicade, and Humira). A correlation analysis and relative gap were analyzed by statistical analysis between sales-based market share and interest-based market share. Besides, in the country-specific analysis, three major countries (USA, Germany, and France) were selected for market share analysis for Top 3 TNF-α inhibitors. As a result, significant correlation and similarity were identified by data analysis. In the case of Remicade's biosimilars, the consumer interest in two biosimilar products (Inflectra and Renflexis) increased after the FDA approval. The analytical data showed that Google Trends is a powerful tool for market share estimation for biosimilars. This study is the first investigation in market share analysis for pharmaceutical products using Google Trends big data, and it shows that global and regional market share analysis and estimation are applicable for the interest-sensitive products.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.53-58
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• 2015

Recombinant erythropoietins (EPOs) are an important class of biotherapeutics that stimulate red blood cell production. The quality, safety, and potency of EPO variants are determined largely by their glycosylation, which makes up nearly half their mass. Thus, detailed glycomic analyses are important to assess biotherapeutic quality and establish the equivalency of biosimilar EPOs now coming to market. High-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) has recently emerged as the premier tool for glycan analysis in EPOs. Using the accurate mass measurements provided by high-resolution MS, the compositions of even large, complex glycans can easily be determined. When combined with a nano-LC separation, differentiation of structural isomers also becomes a possibility. These components, together, provide a comprehensive picture of biotherapeutic glycosylation. In this review, we provide an overview of MS-based analytical platform for glycomic characterization of EPO biotherapeutics and biosimilars.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2013

Biosimilars are important drugs in medicine and contain many glycosylated proteins. Thorough analysis of the glycosylated protein is a prerequisite for evaluation of biosimilar glycan drugs. A method to assess the diversity of N-glycosylation sites and N-glycans from biosimilar glycan drugs has been developed using two separate methods, LC-MS/MS and MALDI-TOF MS, respectively. Development of sensitive, accurate, and efficient methods for evaluation of glycoproteins is still needed. In this study, analysis of both N-glycosylation sites and N-glycans of glycoprotein was performed using the same LC-MS/MS with two different nano-LC columns, nano-C18 and nano-porous graphitized carbon (nano-PGC) columns. N-glycosylated proteins, including RNAse B (one N-glycosylation site), Fetuin (three sites), and ${\alpha}$-1 acid glycoprotein (four sites), were used, and small amounts of each protein were used for identification of N-glycosylation sites. In addition, high mannose N-glycans (one type of typical glycan structure), Mannose 5 and 9, eluted from RNAse B, were successfully identified using nano-PGC-LC MS/MS analysis, and the abundance of each glycan from the glycoprotein was calculated. This study demonstrated an accurate and efficient method for determination of N-glycosylation sites and N-glycans of glycoproteins based on high sensitive LC-MS/MS using two different nano-columns; this method could be applied for evaluation of the quality of various biosimilar drugs containing N-glycosylation groups.