Efalizumab (trade name Raptiva,

Genentech Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within R ...

Merck Serono Merck Serono (EMD Serono in the United States and Canada) is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and a brand and division of Merck focused on biopharmaceuticals. In September 2006, Merck KGaA announced its intent to pu ...

) is a formerly available

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

designed to treat autoimmune diseases, originally marketed to treat

psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by raised areas of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complete ...

. As implied by the suffix ''-zumab'', it is a recombinant

humanized Humanized antibodies are antibodies from non-human species whose protein sequences have been modified to increase their similarity to antibody variants produced naturally in humans. The process of "humanization" is usually applied to monoclonal an ...

monoclonal antibody A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell Lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies ca ...

administered once weekly by

subcutaneous injection Subcutaneous administration is the insertion of medications beneath the skin either by injection or infusion. A subcutaneous injection is administered as a bolus into the subcutis, the layer of skin directly below the dermis and epidermis, ...

. Efalizumab binds to the

CD11a Integrin, alpha L (antigen CD11A (p180), lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1; alpha polypeptide), also known as ITGAL, is a protein that in human is encoded by ''ITGAL'' gene. CD11a functions in the immune system. It is involved in cellular a ...

subunit of

lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 Lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) is an integrin found on lymphocytes and other leukocytes. LFA-1 plays a key role in emigration, which is the process by which leukocytes leave the bloodstream to enter the tissues. LFA-1 also mediates ...

and acts as an

immunosuppressant Immunosuppressive drugs, also known as immunosuppressive agents, immunosuppressants and antirejection medications, are drugs that inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. Classification Immunosuppressive drugs can be classified in ...

by inhibiting lymphocyte activation and cell migration out of blood vessels into tissues. Efalizumab was associated with fatal brain infections and was withdrawn from the market in 2009. Known side effects include bacterial

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, viral

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, invasive fungal disease and

progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare and often fatal viral disease characterized by progressive damage (''-pathy'') or inflammation of the white matter (''leuko-'') of the brain (''-encephalo-'') at multiple locations (''mu ...

(PML), a brain infection caused by reactivation of latent

JC virus ''Human polyomavirus 2'', commonly referred to as the JC virus or John Cunningham virus, is a type of human polyomavirus (formerly known as papovavirus). It was identified by electron microscopy in 1965 by ZuRhein and Chou, and by Silverman and ...

infection. Four cases of PML were reported in plaque psoriasis patients, an incidence of approximately one in 500 treated patients. Due to the risk of PML, the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...

and the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

recommended suspension from the market in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the United States, respectively. In April 2009, Genentech Inc. announced a phased voluntary withdrawal of Raptiva from the U.S. market.

References

Recombinant proteins Immunosuppressants Withdrawn drugs Merck brands Hoffmann-La Roche brands Genentech brands {{antineoplastic-drug-stub