Ranibizumab Biosimilar, Human VEGF Fab

Ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis) is a humanized monoclonal antibody fragment (Fab) specific for human VEGF-A, a protein that mediates angiogenesis. Ranibizumab was derived from Bevacizumab (trade name Avastin), the first clinically available angiogenesis inhibitor in the United States, but exhibits stronger binding to VEGF-A than the parent antibody. VEGF-A is critical for the vascularization of a variety of cancers, including colorectal, lung, breast, glioblastoma, kidney, and ovarian cancers.  Ranibizumab can also be used to treat the "wet" type of age-related macular degeneration (AMD, also ARMD), a common form of age-related vision loss.