Antibody cocktails: next-generation biopharmaceuticals with improved potency

The therapeutic and commercial success of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has inspired innovative approaches aimed at increasing their potency and broadening their applicability. Among these, cocktails of recombinant human mAbs are a logical next step because they combine the technological advances made in the field of antibody engineering with the notion that the ingredients of polyclonal-antibody preparations act in concert to optimally exert and recruit effector functions. Cocktails of mAbs have entered clinical trials, and new technology platforms are being developed for their generation. On the basis of preclinical and early clinical results, the question is not whether cocktails of mAbs have a bright future as therapeutics, but rather what platform is able to reproducibly and cost effectively generate efficacious concoctions that are approvable by the regulatory authorities.