Development

In May of 2018, drug maker Lupin announced that the European Medicines Agency would review its application for YLB113, a proposed etanercept biosimilar referencing Enbrel. This week, results of a phase 3 study of the biosimilar in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) revealed the similarity of the product with its reference, and also demonstrated that the product has lower immunogenicity than the reference drug.

Outlook Therapeutics, formerly known as Oncobiologics, said this month that it has reached an agreement with the FDA on 3 special protocol assessments for clinical trials of ONS-5010, a formulation of bevacizumab intended to treat retinal diseases.

AffaMed Therapeutics announced this week that it has received a Clinical Trial Application (CTA) approval from Chinese regulators to conduct a phase 3 clinical trial of Samsung Bioepis’ biosimilar trastuzumab, SB3.

NeuClone did not specify whether it intends to move to a phase 3 clinical trial for the biosimilar. In fact, in its statement on the phase 1 results, the company noted that phase 3 trials are not required to achieve regulatory clearance.

Bio-Thera Solutions, a global biotechnology company based in Guangzhou, China, said this week that the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved its Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a phase 1 clinical study to compare the pharmacokinetics and safety of BAT2206, a proposed ustekinumab biosimilar, to the reference Stelara in healthy volunteers.

Generic drug maker Lannett Company announced positive results from the beginning of a clinical program for its proposed biosimilar insulin glargine referencing Lantus.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of November 25, 2019.

The fact that biologic drugs are typically infused or injected poses numerous challenges, including discomfort for patients, instability under some storage conditions, and the generation of needle waste. Researchers have long sought a way to deliver biologics orally, and some teams have even reported progress toward the goal of delivering monoclonal antibodies in coated tablet forms. Now, researchers have reported in Nature Medicine that a luminal unfolding microneedle injector could be a feasible delivery device for biologic drugs like insulin.

Because stand-alone pharmacokinetic (PK) studies are usually designed to focus on intrinsic and extrinsic factors that have a high potential to affect drug exposure, they leave other possible interactions unstudied; population PK (popPK) analysis allows for an assessment of multiple factors that are not otherwise evaluated in healthy volunteers and allows for a larger number of individuals to be included.

Last month, writing in a perspective piece in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, a group of authors further explored the rationale for developing and using pharmacodynamic (PD) biomarkers in biosimilar development.

On Monday, Polpharma Biologics announced that it has randomized the first patients in its phase 3 study of PB006, a proposed natalizumab biosimilar, and patients have begun to receive the study medication.

Samsung Bioepis announced Tuesday that the FDA has accepted for review the company’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for SB8, a proposed bevacizumab biosimilar referencing Avastin. The biosimilar developer submitted the BLA in September.

During the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference, held this week in London, United Kingdom, a panel of executives from pharmaceutical companies, together with a scientist whose focus is on economics, discussed the increasingly challenging problem of paying for innovative therapies, particularly in a context of heightened political pressure around high drug costs.

On Sunday, during the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)’s 2019 meeting, being held in Atlanta, Georgia, researchers reported on the safety and efficacy of the proposed infliximab biosimilar ABP 710 in a phase 3 study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Researchers also reported on a phase 1 and 3 study of the proposed rituximab biosimilar, ABP 798, in patients with RA.

This week, multiple biosimilar developers announced major moves forward for their businesses, with Coherus BioSciences making a new acquisition, Celltrion reporting continued growth for its business, Bio-Thera Solutions gaining the first-ever approval of an adalimumab biosimilar from China’s National Medical Products Administration, and Alvotech and Stada entering into a 7-biosimilar partnership in Europe.

Novartis Friday announced results from a head-to-head trial of its secukinumab (Cosentyx) versus adalimumab in patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA), saying its therapy missed statistical significance for its primary end point.

Biosimilars are beginning to gain momentum, even in the sluggish US market, evidenced by strong US and global sales reported this month by some of the top biosimilar players.

Drug maker Revance Therapeutics has announced positive results from its SAKURA clinical program for its daxibotulinumtoxinA, a novel botulinum toxin type A that it hopes will compete with brand-name Botox, or onabotulinumtoxinA.

Drug maker Formycon announced today that it has begun a phase 1 clinical trial of its proposed ustekinumab biosimilar, FYB202, referencing Stelara. Ustekinumab is the first available therapy to target the interleukin-12 and -23 pathway.

In December 2018, biosimilar developer Amgen announced that it had submitted its proposed infliximab biosimilar, ABP 710, referencing Remicade, to the FDA for review. A regulatory decision is expected shortly, and last week, researchers published detailed results from the biosimilar’s phase 1 clinical study that evaluated the pharmacokinetic (PK) similarity of the biosimilar with its reference.

NeuClone said Thursday that it has begun dosing participants with its proposed ustekinumab biosimilar, referencing Stelara, in a phase 1 trial.

While biosimilar stakeholders’ eyes have been on the recent launch of new products and on policy proposals that stand to impact these therapies, several new proposed biosimilar agents are making their way into clinical trials.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of September 23, 2019.

This month, Elena Wolff-Holz, MD, PhD, chair of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) Biosimilar Medicinal Products Working Party, together with coauthors from the EMA and the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices in Germany, published a new paper in which the team outlines the extent of clinical confirmation of biosimilarity, taken together with analytical and functional data, that is considered necessary for biosimilar drugs to be approved in Europe.

A team of authors points out that, given batch-to-batch variation of all biologics that can be enhanced by manufacturing changes, no batches of biologics can be considered identical to one another. However, “they may be considered essentially equal and therapeutically indistinguishable,” which points to a clinically acceptable range of structural heterogeneity for any biologic.

China-based drug maker TOT Biopharm is developing TAB008 as a biosimilar of the reference bevacizumab, Avastin. TOT has recently indicated that it is in the midst of a phase 3 clinical trial of the biosimilar, and last month, results of a phase 1 study of the biosimilar were published in Frontiers in Pharmacology.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this month, Silicon Valley-based biotech company Revance Therapeutics said that it has entered into an amendment to a Collaboration and License Agreement with Mylan; the amendment extends the period of time Mylan has to decide whether to continue to develop and commercialize a biosimilar of Allergan’s onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox).

Instead of the “totality of the evidence” approach to biosimilars, authors of a new paper propose a “confirmation of sufficient likeness” paradigm.

Sandoz announced today that it has enrolled its first patient in a combined phase 1 and phase 3 study of its proposed denosumab biosimilar versus EU-authorized Prolia.

The FDA has released updated draft guidance on population pharmacokinetics (PK). The update follows draft guidance originally put forth by the agency in 1999.