Table 2.

Differences in characteristics between biologics and conventional drugs

	Biologic (eg, mAb)	Small-molecule drug
Dimensions	• Large size	• Relatively small size
Structure	• Complex two- and three-dimensional structure	• Simple chemical structure
	• Assembly in multi-chain Ig complexes
Additional modifications	• Post-translational modifications (eg, glycosylation)	• None
Production	• Produced in host living-cell systems	• In vitro synthesis of active ingredient
Processing	• Purification steps	• No purification required
Stability	• Susceptible to modifications induced by environmental changes (eg, in temperature, moisture, packaging, delivery device)	• Less sensitive to environmental factors

Abbreviations: Ig, immunoglobulin; mAb, monoclonal antibody.