The challenge

Adalimumab, known as Humira, is the best-selling drug in the modern world and is used to fight Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s disease, Psoriasis and other chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorders. In a significant proportion of patients an adequate clinical response with Adalimumab is not achieved, there is a high likelihood of non-response and severe side effects. Moreover, Adalimumab therapy is expensive and there is a need for ways to lower dosages in a controlled fashion. Treatment can be optimized with therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), where the dosage of Adalimumab is tailored to the patient based on their drug levels, making treatments more effective and cost-efficient. However, methods that are currently available have long measurement times and high costs, making it very difficult for TDM to become a valuable method in medical diagnostics for patients and doctors for the best treatment available.

The solution

Team T.E.S.T. is developing a biosensing device that will enable point-of-care at home measurement of the concentration of Adalimumab in serum, increasing efficiency of therapeutic drug monitoring of Adalimumab. In this way the dosage of Adalimumab in the blood will be tailored in 10 minutes or less. This should provide a way to optimize the dosage regimen, in order to achieve an adequate clinical response faster in more patients. Also, it should provide a way for medical doctors to lower the dose of Adalimumab in a controlled fashion. In our biosensor we will use bioluminescence. In this concept other molecules can bind highly specific to Adalimumab. Once bounded this complex can activate a protein that emits light. By measuring the intensity of this light the concentration Adalimumab can be meausured.

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