Biologics are a class of drugs used to treat various diseases to help improve outcomes. Understanding the options can help you work with your doctor to make informed treatment decisions.

Most of the medications in your cabinet are likely made from nonbiological materials. Common drugs such as antacids, aspirin, or statins prescribed by your doctor are all created in a laboratory from synthetic ingredients. They don’t come from nature.

Biologics are different. They are a distinct class of drugs made from biological sources. More specifically, they’re extracted or synthesized from biologic systems, but they often mimic cell products that occur naturally in the body.

Today, many biologics are on the market for treating various conditions. So it’s important to understand this class of drugs when working with your doctor to make treatment decisions.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines biologics as products made from natural sources. This means they can include substances originating in everything from microorganisms to animals and humans. Biologics use proteins, sugars, cells, tissues, and other natural materials to create medical products.

Synthetic drugs have a specific makeup. Aspirin, for example, is made up of 21 atoms formed in a specific shape. By contrast, the full composition of biologics is often unknown. That’s because the material is complicated and larger than chemicals made in a laboratory. These drugs are fragile and kept in liquid form, and they’re injected or administered intravenously.

The FDA has approved various biologic drugs that can treat a number of health conditions, including:

  • ankylosing spondylitis
  • asthma
  • cancer
  • Crohn’s disease
  • cystic fibrosis
  • diabetes
  • high cholesterol
  • kidney disease
  • lupus
  • multiple sclerosis
  • psoriasis
  • psoriatic arthritis
  • rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
  • ulcerative colitis

But not all biologic drugs are approved for treating all of these conditions.

Biologic drugs target specific parts of the body’s immune system that are causing bothersome symptoms.

For example, in people living with inflammatory types of arthritis, like psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis, an overactive immune system mistakenly attacks healthy joints and tissue. But biologics target specific proteins or molecules involved in that overactive immune response to stop inflammation in its tracks.

As a result, these drugs help slow disease progression, improve symptoms, and promote better quality of life.

Various biologic drugs are on the market. Each drug targets a specific pathway involved in the immune response to stop inflammation at the source.

Available biologics include:

  • antiangiogenic agents, such as bevacizumab (Avastin)
  • B-cell inhibitors, such as belimumab (Benlysta), ofatumumab (Kesimpta), ocrelizumab (Ocrevus), and rituximab (Rituxan)
  • glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, such as dulaglutide (Trulicity) and liraglutide (Victoza)
  • IL-4 inhibitors, such as dupilimab (Dupixent)
  • IL-5 inhibitors, such as benralizumab (Fasenra) and mepolizumab (Nucala)
  • IL-12 and/or IL-23 inhibitors, such as geselkumab (Tremfya), risankizumab (Skyrizi), or ustekinumab (Stelara)
  • IL-17 inhibitors, such as brodalumab (Siliq), ixekizumab (Taltz), or secukinumab (Cosentyx)
  • HER2 inhibitors, such as perjeta (Pertuzumab) and trastuzumab (Herceptin)
  • selective co-stimulation modulators, such as abatacept (Orencia)
  • TNF-inhibitors, such as adalimumab (Humira), certolizumab pegol (Cimzia), etanercept (Enbrel), golimumab (Simponi), or infliximab (Remicade)

And even more biologics are available, depending on your exact diagnosis.

However, not every biologic is FDA approved to treat every condition. You’ll need to work with your doctor to determine the right treatment approach for you.

The appeal of biologics is their ability to target a specific part of the body for treatment. Conventional disease-modifying drugs work on either the body’s entire immune system or on a broader range of immune pathways.

Drugs, both synthetic and biologic, typically work by entering cells within the body. Once inside, the drugs change how the cells operate, work, or interact with immune cells. Synthetic drugs are smaller than biologics, so they don’t always hit their target. Biologics are larger, which increases the drug’s ability to attach in the right spot.

Even though biologics hit their target marker with greater precision, they don’t always work the same in everyone who takes them. Doctors don’t always know which biologic will work best for each person. For example, one person with psoriatic arthritis may respond well to a TNF inhibitor, whereas another may respond better to an interleukin-17 inhibitor.

As with conventional medications, biologics have other possible side effects and risks. It all depends on how the drug works in the body.

Some biologics change how the immune system functions. For people who use certain types of biologics, there’s a greater risk of infection and cancer. Additionally, biologics can potentially trigger other autoimmune conditions.

Biologics can be used as first-line treatment for some conditions. However, your doctor may recommend starting with conventional disease-modifying drugs before trying a biologic. But if those drugs don’t work, your doctor may decide that a biologic is a better treatment option.

However, your personal preferences and opinions matter, so it’s important to have open, honest conversations with your doctor about your treatment plan.

Biologic drugs have the potential to treat a wide range of conditions. Various options are available, depending on your exact diagnosis.

Talk with your doctor about your options and work together to make the best possible treatment decisions for you.