​The rate of use of biological medicines in Romania is increasing, and the diverse treatment needs of patients have demonstrated the need to increase the availability and variety of biological products.

Although we may be tempted to think that this is something new in our lives, the use of biological materials in medicine has a long history. With the advent of genetic engineering in the 1970s, the use of biotechnology in medicine grew exponentially. In the early 1980s, he became a pioneer in the field of biotechnology. Today, the lives of more than 350 million patients worldwide with myocardial infarction, stroke, cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, severe asthma or autoimmune diseases have been saved or improved by biologics. Biotechnology has also revolutionized the diagnosis of diseases with a genetic predisposition, a particularly important step in modern medicine.

The European Medicines Agency defines a biological medicine as a medicine whose active substance is obtained from a living organism. The active substances in biologics are larger and more complex than in non-biologics, and only living organisms can reproduce this complexity. Some biologics are copies of substances already present in the human body, such as proteins, insulin, growth hormone, and erythropoietin. Other biological medicines, such as vaccines and medicines based on recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), are obtained by processing the blood, organs and tissues of human animals.

Biologic drugs are developed from living cells or organisms using medical bioengineering, unlike traditional drugs made by chemical synthesis. There are a number of reasons why their production is more difficult, such as the raw materials used, heterogeneous structure, size and variability, more expensive and time-consuming production process, and sensitivity to storage and handling.

Also, in modern medical practice, such features as the ability to cause immune reactions when interacting with the body (immunogenicity), the method of administration (only by injections and infusions, due to their protein nature) are distinguished.

European Biotechnology Week 2023

European Biotechnology Week annually celebrates scientific progress in the field of biotechnology. The first European Biotechnology Week took place in 2013 and was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA molecule (in 1953).

According to the definition of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “biotechnology is the application of science and technology to living organisms, as well as to their parts, products and models to modify living or non-living materials for the production of knowledge, goods and services.”

The application of biotechnology in medicine leads to the development of biological and biosimilar medicines, which bring special benefits to patients. Innovative biological drugs are drugs obtained from living organisms using extremely complex production processes. Innovative biologics include a wide range of products such as cell and gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. Thanks to medical advances, many diseases can be prevented and many deaths avoided through timely diagnosis and treatment.

Europe has world-class research facilities, medical centers and hospitals that provide a strong foundation for the development of biotechnology. The EU is also home to 16 of the world’s top 50 medical universities.

Photo: Dreamstime.com.