Policy

Tahir Amin, DipLP, co-founder and director of intellectual property of Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge, a public interest team of attorneys and scientists who ensure that patents do not obstruct access to affordable medicines for patients in the United States and around the world, discusses transparency in drug pricing.

Last week, a federal appeals court in Maryland ruled that a law, passed in 2017 and aimed at combatting increases in the price of generic medicines, is unconstitutional.

This week, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) raised concerns that CMS’ final 2019 Payment Notice Rule, which provides states with increased flexibility to determine which plan options they can select as Essential Health Benefit- (EHB) benchmark plans and select their own sets of benefits, could seriously jeopardize care for patients with inflammatory diseases.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 biosimilars articles for the week of April 9, 2018.

In ongoing litigation over Celltrion and Pfizer’s infliximab biosimilar, Inflectra, a Massachusetts district court has granted Celltrion’s motion for leave to file a motion for summary judgment of non-infringement.

In a press briefing today at Pfizer’s headquarters in New York, New York, Pfizer’s executives reviewed their progress with biosimilars to date and underscored the need for a level playing field if biosimilars are to compete with brand-name biologics in the United States.

Limited distribution networks, which are established when a drug maker contracts with either 1 or a limited number of distributors, can allow a manufacturer to efficiently manage the supply chain for a given product. However, as a recent paper argues, LDNs can have an anticompetitive impact on the marketplace.

In terms of the interactions with patient organizations, the code specifies that companies should not only respect the autonomy of patient organizations and their independence, but also ensure that support for patient advocacy organizations in the form of grants or charitable contributions not be conditional on promoting a specific medicine.

The database, called “Pre$cription for Power,” shows that donations to patient advocacy groups overshadowed the total amount the companies spent on federal lobbying in 2015; of the 14 companies that contributed $116 million to advocacy groups, the same companies reported only about $63 million in lobbying activities for the same time period.

Some industry groups have begun voicing their concerns that proposed tariffs could have a negative effect on the production of generics and biosimilars, and may increase the cost of these products.

The financial plan, which is revised each year, outlines the financial position of the Biosimilar User Fee Act program over the next 5-year authorization period, and explains how the FDA will allocate resources to build its biosimilars review program.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 biosimilars articles for the week of April 2, 2018.

In a briefing to regional committees, the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) urged commissioners to begin planning to use the best-value adalimumab option beginning in October 2018, when Amgen’s EU-authorized biosimilar, Amgevita, becomes available.

In the rule, CMS said that it would lower the maximum co-pay amount for low-income subsidy (LIS) beneficiaries for biosimilar and interchangeable biosimilars to match the lower co-pay amount required for generic and preferred multiple-source drugs.

Last week, Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, together with the minority staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC), released a report on prescription drug price increases that affect the 20 products most commonly prescribed to seniors.

“A [3]-year time lag for the next biosimilar medicine, from market authorization to the patient switching process, should not occur," say the authors of a recent review.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 biosimilars articles for the week of March 26, 2018.

One of the more serious concerns the FDA has discussed is the possibility that a developer of a proposed biosimilar could be deterred from seeking approval of its product, because United States Pharmacopeial Convention's (USP) proposed changes could complicate the licensure of a proposed biosimilar that meets the approval requirements of the FDA but does not match the USP’s standards of a monograph.

On Monday, March 26, a Delaware court judge granted Coherus Biosciences’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Amgen over alleged infringement of a patent covering pegfilgrastim (Neulasta).

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, indicated that the agency would be putting forward policies that would compel branded drug makers to “tighten up their manufacturing, to have less variance of their biologics that are currently on the market.” In theory, this change could make it easier to develop a biosimilar using smaller studies.

A new brief from Avalere Health argues that, if a multisource market for biologic drugs is to emerge in the United States, originator biologics and biosimilars must be able to gain market share commensurate to the value they offer to the healthcare system, and a variety of policy options are available to create the necessary conditions for true competition.

While biosimilars have made significant inroads into the European marketplace, there remain hurdles to the adoption of these lower-cost drugs, especially in lower-income nations; external reference pricing can mean that drugs are priced to wealthier European countries’ financial capabilities, and manufacturers’ launch strategies may bring biosimilars to nations with the greatest market potential first.

Approximately 80% of Americans think that the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable, and 73% believe that pharmaceutical companies are making too much profit on their products.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump made a speech in New Hampshire to discuss the administration’s efforts in combatting both the opioid crisis and high drug prices. In the speech, Trump alluded to a possible press conference in the near future that would discuss potential proposals in reducing prescription drug prices.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 biosimilars articles for the week of March 19, 2018.

Insurance lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), recently named Matt Eyles as its next president and CEO beginning June 1. Eyles, currently AHIP’s chief operating officer, recently gave a statement about his priorities for the organization once he begins his tenure.

House Bill 4005 requires drug manufacturers to compile a report on a prescription drug if the price was $100 or more for a 1-month supply (or course of treatment lasting less than 1 month) and if the net price increased by 10% or more.

This week, the Spanish Society of Digestive Pathology (SEPD) became the most recent organization to announce an updated position statement on the use of biosimilars.

Yesterday, 9 physician groups sent a joint letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar in which they voiced concerns about the President’s 2019 Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers’ drug plan.

The number of patent settlements that limit generic drugs' market entry and involve a transfer of value (monetary or otherwise) for the delay of entry have stabilized at a low level, says the European Commission.