Combined analytical assays for the characterization of drugs binding to human IgE: Applicability to omalizumab-bearing biosimilar candidates assessment

Analytical and functional comparison is key for substantiating the level of convergence (essential sameness) or divergence between versions or variants of a given biological medicine. Accordingly, an overlapping biological activity between products meant to be equal probably reflects a highly similar structure and anticipates a comparable pharmacodynamic behavior. We developed an orthogonal approach to compare the human IgE binding features of different lots and versions of Xolair® (omalizumab), an anti-human IgE monoclonal antibody. The IgE binding affinity and kinetics were measured by surface plasmon resonance. Ability to prevent mast cell activity was assessed in vitro and in vivo in mast cell-based models. The variability of monoclonal antibodies with identical amino acid sequences produced either in Chinese hamster ovarian cells or in human HEK293 cells, was compared. Monoclonal antibodies from the two sources exhibited slightly different human IgE binding and neutralizing features. A known variant exhibiting a three amino acid replacement in the Fab region had lower IgE binding affinity than the original omalizumab. The lower binding affinity translated into reduced IgE neutralizing capacity and, in turn, a difference in the ability to prevent mast cell activation in vitro and in vivo. The proposed set of analytical and functional assays was sensitive enough to detect Fab-linked differences between anti-IgE antibody versions exhibiting an identical aminoacid sequence. In addition to add value to the comparative assessment of biosimilar candidates bearing omalizumab, these methods can aid pre-assessments of new anti-IgE agents that aim to improve therapeutic performance.