Monoclonal antibodies are classified by their degree of humanisation, which is reflected in the drug suffix. Based on this nomenclature, trastuzumab is best classified as:
- A Murine antibody
- B Chimeric antibody
- C Humanised antibody ✓
- D Fully human antibody
Correct answer: C. Humanised antibody
Explanation
The suffix encodes origin: omab is murine, ximab is chimeric (about 65% human, e.g., rituximab, cetuximab), zumab is humanised (about 90% human, only complementarity-determining regions are murine), and mumab is fully human. Trastuzumab ends in zumab, so it is humanised. The tempting distractor is chimeric, but that applies to rituximab and cetuximab, whose names end in ximab.
Reference: Katzung's Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 15th ed.
High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP
Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.