This course provides a detailed study and analysis of the various classes of biopharmaceuticals and includes case studies of the therapeutic mode of action of selected examples.

Recombinant DNA technology has allowed the production of a wide variety of biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of human disease. There are numerous classes of biopharmaceuticals including cytokines, growth factors, clotting factors, growth hormones, enzymes, monoclonal antibodies and oligonucleotide-based compounds. Most biopharmaceuticals approved for human administration are protein-based. For example erythropoietin (EPO), a protein of the cytokine group responsible for red blood cell formation, is used therapeutically to treat anaemia.

Biopharmaceuticals are now a significant sector of the health care industry, and EPO is the world's biggest selling biopharmaceutical. Other diseases targeted with biopharmaceuticals include cancer, inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, haemophilia and various viral infections. Biopharmaceuticals are also able to treat conditions such as wound healing, infertility and growth deficiency to name but a few.

The course includes a study of the pharmacology of proteins and peptides as drugs and includes pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and metabolism. Oligonucleotides are also becoming an increasingly important class of biopharmaceuticals, and the mode of action of aptamers, ribozymes, DNAzymes, PNAs and other oligonucleotide-based biopharmaceuticals is studied.