Visilizumab is a humanize

Humanize

Humanize may refer to:*Humanize a 2001 album by the British jazz/funk band Big Boss Man*Humanized antibody, a type of monoclonal antibody...

d monoclonal antibody. It is being investigated for use as an immunosuppressive drug

Immunosuppressive drug

Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressive agents are drugs that inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system. They are used in immunosuppressive therapy to:...

 in patients with ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease . Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the colon , that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset...

 and Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...

. Visilizumab binds to the CD3 receptor on certain activated T cell

T cell

T cells or T lymphocytes belong to a group of white blood cells known as lymphocytes, and play a central role in cell-mediated immunity. They can be distinguished from other lymphocytes, such as B cells and natural killer cells , by the presence of a T cell receptor on the cell surface. They are...

s without affecting resting T cells. It is currently under clinical studies for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

PDL BioPharma, Inc. canceled production of visilizumab following its Phase II/III clinical trials, citing its inefficacy and poor safety profile compared to other drugs on the market as the major reasons. Nevertheless, clinical trials continue for various diseases like multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...

 and diabetes mellitus type 1

Diabetes mellitus type 1

Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a form of diabetes mellitus that results from autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. The subsequent lack of insulin leads to increased blood and urine glucose...

 .

Visilizumab has also been radiolabelled with technetium-99m

Technetium-99m

Technetium-99m is a metastable nuclear isomer of technetium-99, symbolized as 99mTc. The "m" indicates that this is a metastable nuclear isomer, i.e., that its half-life of 6 hours is considerably longer than most nuclear isomers that undergo gamma decay...

for imaging T cells.