Nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies

The nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies is a naming scheme for assigning generic, or nonproprietary, names to monoclonal antibodies. An antibody is a protein that is produced in B cells and used by the immune system of humans and other vertebrate animals to identify a specific foreign object like a bacterium or a virus. Monoclonal antibodies are those that were produced in identical cells, often artificially, and so share the same target object. They have a wide range of applications including medical uses.

This naming scheme is used for both the World Health Organization’s International Nonproprietary Names (INN) and the United States Adopted Names (USAN) for pharmaceuticals. In general, word stems are used to identify classes of drugs, in most cases placed word-finally. All monoclonal antibody names end with the stem -mab. Unlike most other pharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibody nomenclature uses different preceding word parts (morphemes) depending on structure and function. These are officially called substems and sometimes erroneously infixes, even by the USAN Council itself.

The stem -mab is used for monoclonal antibodies as well as for their fragments, as long as at least one variable domain (the domain that contains the target binding structure) is included. This is the case for antigen binding fragments and single-chain variable fragments, among other artificial proteins. Other antibody parts (such as Fc regions) and antibody mimetics use different naming schemes.

...
Wikipedia