Letter from the Editor

The development of therapeutics is a complex and costly process with low probabilities of approval success. All stakeholders, from academic researchers to patients, have an interest in improving the efficiency of the process so that effective medicines are available. Stratified medicine, in which therapies are prescribed only to patients identified by one or more biomarkers, is one approach to achieving this end. Adoption of this approach by the pharmaceutical industry might at first appear to be unlikely because market sizes would be reduced; however, the benefits of targeting the right patient with an effective drug while potentially also reducing adverse events could outweigh the economic disadvantages of the strategy.     

Letter from the Editor

mAbs’ September/October 2009 issue highlights the promise and challenges of antibody therapeutics development. Representing promise, our mini-review series on novel antibodies currently undergoing regulatory review or recently approved continues in this issue. Previously published articles include mini-reviews of denosumab and ustekinumab (May/June 2009 issue) and ofatumumab (July/August 2009 issue). The September/October issue features articles on golimumab, tocilizumab and motavizumab. The mini-reviews present overviews of the completed and on-going clinical studies of these molecules. Anti-TNFα golimumab was approved in April 2009 by both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; anti-IL6R tocilizumab is approved in Japan and the European Union (EU), and is currently undergoing FDA review as a treatment for RA. The juxtaposition of these two mini-reviews provides an opportunity to easily compare summaries of the available clinical results. Future issues of mAbs will include mini-reviews of catumaxomab, canakinumab and raxibacumab, as well as any additional antibodies that enter regulatory review in 2009 and beyond.     

编者寄语(英文)

<正>Everybody at the age of 88 years old is called 米寿("Mi-shou" in Chinese pronunciation)in China.May 28,2013 will be Prof.Richard P.Korf's 88th birthday.Prof.Korf first visited the Department of Mycology,Institute of Microbiology,Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)in 1981 after he attended the International Botanical Congress in Sydney,Australia.He