A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biologic medical product or more simply as a biologic or biological, is any medicinal product manufactured in or extracted from biological sources. Biopharmaceuticals are distinct from chemically synthesized pharmaceutical products. Examples of biopharmaceuticals include vaccines, blood or blood components, allergenics, somatic cells, gene therapies, tissues, recombinant therapeutic protein and living cells.
Terminology surrounding biopharmaceuticals varies between groups and entities, with different terms referring to different subsets of therapeutics within the general biopharmaceutical category. Some major regulatory agencies use the terms biological medicinal products or therapeutic biological product to specifically refer to engineered macromolecular products like protein-based and nucleic-acid-based drugs, distinguishing them from products like blood, blood components or vaccines, which are usually directly extracted from a biological source.[1][2][3]
Biologics can be composed of sugars, proteins or nucleic acids or complex combinations of these substances, or may be living entities such as cells and tissues. Biologics are isolated from a variety of natural sources — human, animal or microorganism — and may be produced by biotechnology methods and other technologies. Gene-based and cellular biologics, for example, often are at the forefront of biomedical research, and may be used to treat a variety of medical conditions for which no other treatments are available.[4]
In some jurisdictions, biologics are regulated via different pathways than other small molecule drugs and medical devices.[5]