Informing Development of Bispecific Antibodies Using Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Models: Current Capabilities and Future Opportunities.

ABSTRACT

Antibody therapeutics continue to represent a significant portion of the biotherapeutic pipeline, with growing promise for bispecific antibodies (BsAbs). BsAbs can target 2 different antigens at the same time, such as simultaneously binding tumor-cell receptors and recruiting cytotoxic immune cells. This simultaneous engagement of 2 targets can be potentially advantageous, as it may overcome disadvantages posed by a monotherapy approach, like the development of resistance to treatment. Combination therapy approaches that modulate 2 targets simultaneously offer similar advantages, but BsAbs are more efficient to develop. Unlike combination approaches, BsAbs can facilitate spatial proximity of targets that may be necessary to induce the desired effect. Successful development of BsAbs requires understanding antibody formatting and optimizing activity for both targets prior to clinical trials. To realize maximal efficacy, special attention is required to fully define pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) relationships enabling selection of dose and regimen. The application of physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) has been evolving to inform the development of novel treatment modalities such as bispecifics owing to the increase in our understanding of pharmacology, utility of multiscale models, and emerging clinical data. In this review, we discuss components of PBPK models to describe the PK characteristics of BsAbs and expand the discussion to integration of PBPK and PD models to inform development of BsAbs. A framework that can be adopted to build PBPK-PD models to inform the development of BsAbs is also proposed. We conclude with examples that highlight the application of PBPK-PD and share perspectives on future opportunities for this emerging quantitative tool.