Professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital of Parma, Italy.
J Prev Med Hyg. 2024 Jan 1;64(4):E377-E381. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2023.64.4.3070. eCollection 2023 Dec.
The language of medicine is constantly evolving, typically to better describe a new understanding of disease, adjust to changing social sensibilities, or simply to reflect a new drug class or category. We address the need for an updated language around monoclonal antibodies, or "mAbs" - a widely used medical term, but one which is now too general to accurately reflect the range of mAb pharmaceuticals, their effects, and the intended patients.
The question of "what should we call a monoclonal antibody immunisation against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to ensure accurate understanding of the product?" was the basis for a virtual advisory panel in May 2022. The panel was convened by Sanofi with the intention of reviewing appropriate language in terminology in the context of mAb-based prophylaxis for RSV. The panel comprised several global experts on RSV and vaccination, a trained linguist specialising in doctor-patient interactions and medical language, and several experts in marketing and communications.
We suggest the term "Direct Long-acting Antibody" (DLA) for a specific sub-class of mAbs for use in prevention of RSV disease in infants. This terminology should differentiate from other mAbs, which are generally not used as therapies in infants.
This change will more accurately convey the specific mode of action of a mAb in infants, and how it could impact the prevention of communicable diseases: this class of mAbs is not an active treatment, but rather will offer direct and rapid protection lasting at least 5 months.
医学术语不断发展，通常是为了更好地描述对疾病的新理解、适应不断变化的社会观念，或者只是为了反映新的药物类别。我们探讨了更新单抗药物术语的必要性，即“mAb”——这是一个广泛使用的医学术语，但现在过于笼统，无法准确反映 mAb 药物的范围、作用以及目标患者。
2022 年 5 月，一个虚拟顾问小组针对“我们应该如何称呼一种针对呼吸道合胞病毒（RSV）的单克隆抗体免疫接种，以确保对该产品有准确的理解？”这一问题展开了讨论。该小组由赛诺菲召集，旨在审查单抗类 RSV 预防措施方面术语的适当语言。小组成员包括 RSV 和疫苗接种方面的几位全球专家、一位专门研究医患互动和医学语言的语言学家，以及几位营销和传播方面的专家。
我们建议使用“直接长效抗体”（DLA）来描述用于预防婴儿 RSV 疾病的 mAb 的一个特定亚类。这种术语应与其他一般不作为婴儿治疗药物的 mAb 区分开来。
这一变化将更准确地传达 mAb 在婴儿中的具体作用机制，以及它如何影响传染病的预防：这类 mAb 不是一种主动治疗方法，而是提供直接且快速的保护，至少持续 5 个月。
