Inflammation is a physiological process caused when an agent (chemical,
biological or physical) transcends the primary defense barrier of an organism, setting a
series of biological reactions to restore the integrity of such organism, thus playing a
central role in the fight against those pathogens. Uncontrolled amplification of these
events may lead to undesirable pathological manifestations such as cancer, diabetes,
and cardiovascular, neurological, and chronic inflammatory diseases. Monoclonal
antibodies (mAbs) were first described in 1975, and since then, they have proven to be
relevant therapeutic agents in a myriad of diseases. The US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has already approved more than 90 mAbs for the treatment of
several diseases, from which approximately 26% were specifically approved for the
treatment of inflammatory diseases, for instance, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease,
ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and palmoplantar pustulosis. This chapter
provides an overview of the inflammation process and main biochemical mechanisms,
together with a vision on the current state of the art of the mAbs-based
biopharmaceuticals market and their application as powerful therapeutic agents for
inflammatory diseases.
Keywords: Biopharmaceuticals, Biopharmaceuticals Market, Biochemical
Mechanisms, Inflammation, Inflammatory Diseases, Monoclonal Antibodies,
Therapeutic Agents.