News

This week, the FDA approved an expanded indication of the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib (Xeljanz) to include adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. Tofacitinib is the first oral medicine approved for long-term use in UC, and provides an alternative to anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs that must be injected or infused.

Amgen has announced that the FDA has issued a Complete Response Letter for its biosimilar trastuzumab candidate, ABP 980.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 articles for the week of May 28, 2018.

On Friday morning in Chicago, Illinois, The Atlantic hosted a series of panels, moderated by Steve Clemons, on the role biosimilars in cancer care. Opening the morning’s proceedings were Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, co-director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Chadi Nabhan, MD, MBA, FACP, CMO of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions.

This week, the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), which represents approximately 5000 community oncologists, announced that it has filed a lawsuit against HHS, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the director of the OMB, Mick Mulvaney, in the District of Columbia to stop the departments from applying the Medicare sequester cut to reimbursement for Part B drugs.

Two biosimilar developers today announced that they have received positive opinions for products from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

Recently, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) released a set of policy recommendations to improve patient access to much-needed insulin and to lower the substantial cost to treat diabetes.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, on Thursday announced new draft guidance documents aimed at limiting the potential for drug makers to abuse Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) requirements. The announcement comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s drug pricing plan, which called on the agency to issue guidance on how manufacturers use REMS programs to delay competition from follow-on products.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s (BI) adalimumab biosimilar, Cyltezo, can be successfully self-administered—via auto-injector—by most patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Vizient, a healthcare performance improvement company, recently voiced its concerns to the Office of the United States Trade Representative about proposed tariffs on Chinese products.

This week, the European Commission proposed a “recalibration” of Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) to boost investment in the development and manufacture of biosimilars and generics.

Biosimilar developer Celltrion has resubmitted its Biologics License Application (BLA) for a proposed rituximab biosimilar, CT-P10, to the FDA for regulatory consideration. The company received a Complete Response Letter for the drug in April 2018, after having received an earlier warning letter from the agency that raised concerns about the company’s manufacturing processes.

In a new paper, researchers sought to describe how much the European Union is overspending on neovascular age-related macular degeneration treatment by relying on ranibizumab and aflibercept rather than bevacizumab in ophthalmology.

While it is already known that obesity may contribute to an increased risk developing some immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, as well as more severe disease activity and a higher burden of hospitalization, a new review found that obesity is also a predictor of inferior response to anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents.

In collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania led a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that compared the effect of adalimumab treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis or phototherapy on vascular inflammation and cardiovascular biomarkers.

Drug maker Lupin announced last week that its marketing authorization application for a proposed etanercept biosimilar, YLB113, was accepted by the European Medicines Agency.

While rituximab is frequently used off-label to treat relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), emerging evidence suggests that patients with progressive MS may also benefit from treatment with rituximab.

The authors of a recent study report that the addition of a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) or a switch to ustekinumab showed greater efficacy than changing anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) treatments in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who develop paradoxical arthritis.

EvaluatePharma recently released its take on the current state of the market for orphan drugs in its Orphan Drug Report for 2018.

In the latest move by Anthem Inc., the company announced earlier this week that it plans to acquire Aspire Health, the nation’s largest non-hospice advanced care provider.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top 5 articles for the week of May 21, 2018.

This week, Drugs published a letter to the editor concerning a systematic literature review that showed a low risk of safety concerns or loss of efficacy after switching from a reference biologic product to a biosimilar. The letter’s authors said that switching is a beneficial topic for exploration but criticized the review for “over-interpretation of the available data.”

Novartis has announced that Sandoz, a subsidiary division of the company, has received the European Commission’s (EC) authorization for its infliximab biosimilar, to be sold as Zessly in the European Union.

Yesterday, the FDA announced the release of a 5-part video series designed to provide viewers a background of what biosimilar and interchangeable products are, the development and approval process for these products, and the tools and technologies that are used to demonstrate biosimilarity.

More than two-thirds of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) previously naïve to biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs had an inadequate response to their first biologic during 1 year of follow up, according to a recent Taiwanese study.

The European Commission (EC) has announced that it is seeking comments on recently proposed clarifications for how the organization will handle duplicate marketing authorizations for biologics.

An Asian study comparing the quality of glycemic control among patients using biosimilar insulin with those using originator insulin found no independent association of biosimilar insulin with differences in indicators of glycemic control—glycated hemoglobin, insulin dosage, or hypoglycemia.

Currently, beyond the evaluation of a patient’s 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28), there are no standard methods to determine whether patients will respond well to dose reduction of anti–tumor necrosis factor therapy.

Specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles are associated with the formation of anti-drug antibodies to adalimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and hidradenitis suppurativa, potentially causing reduced therapeutic response.

This week, rheumatologists and rheumatology stakeholders from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) took to Capitol Hill to advocate on pressing issues in rheumatology care, such as the rising costs of treatment and lack of access to care.