Talk:Biologics for immunosuppression

Multiple meanings for term "biologic"
There are a few terms in this space which have multiple meanings. Please consider the differences between terms and concepts.

"Biologic" can have any of the following meanings -
 * 1) any extract from an organism, like blood or a vaccine (the FDA says this)
 * 2) immunosuppresant molecular products produced by genetically modified organisms (Cochrane sources say this)
 * 3) any molecular product for any purpose produced by genetically modified organisms. (science writers say this, because they are interested in theoretical applications)
 * 4) the behavior of a cell, so "biologic therapy" can refer to any agent which causes a change in a cell
 * 5) the immune reactions of a cell, so "biologic therapy" can specifically mean "immunotherapy" in exclusion of other changes in the cell

In this article I am defininig "biologics for immunosuppression" as genetically engineered products which have the effect of immunosuppression. Some sources use this definition. Other sources use the term "biologics" in all sorts of ways.

I could be confused about any or all of this.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  20:43, 17 July 2017 (UTC)
 * At Talk:Biopharmaceutics there is an opinion to go with the FDA sense of the word, where "biologic" and "biopharmaceutical" are equivalent terms. I think I agree with that.  Blue Rasberry   (talk)  14:11, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Confirmation that "biologic" can mean "immunosuppressant"
For clarity I want to quote some sources here about what a "biologic" is.


 * "Biologics work by suppressing the human body's immune system."
 * "Biologics are a group of medications that suppress the immune system and reduce the inflammation in the joints." (both sources use same definition)
 * "biologic or immunosuppressant therapy" (this source uses descriptions which frame these as equivalent)

 Blue Rasberry  (talk)  21:17, 18 July 2017 (UTC)

Merge proposal
I propose merging Biological response modifier into Biologics for immunosuppression. The articles linking to biological response modifier can all easily be changed to link to biologics for immunosuppression. There is seemingly no new information in "biological response modifier" that isn't also in "biologics for immunosuppression"

There is also significant overlap with Biopharmaceutical and Monoclonal antibody therapy that may be worth looking at. I am trying to reduce from 4 mostly-overlapping articles to 3 at least, which is a step in the right direction. Kimen8 (talk) 11:51, 27 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Two weeks has passed since I put up the merge proposal. Looking at it again, the merge should probably go the other direction: merge Biologics for immunosuppression into Biological response modifier, since Biological response modifier mentions therapies that.
 * I am going to take the rough structure from Biologics for immunosuppression instead of the structure of Biological response modifier, but try to keep as much non-duplicated material as is possible. Kimen8 (talk) 18:11, 10 November 2023 (UTC)