News

Biosimilar news in ophthalmology throughout the year tended to focus on the advancements of ranibizumab biosimilars, such as the US launch of Byooviz, the recall of a biobetter of ranibizumab, and the UK approval of Ongavia.

To say goodbye to 2022 and welcome in the new year, The Center for Biosimilars recaps the biggest news stories and milestones from the past 12 months as well as list of the top 5 podcast episodes of the year.

A study assessing the use of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha inhibitor biosimilars in France found that the biosimilar penetration rate was higher for infliximab compared to etanercept and adalimumab. The authors said they aimed to understand the key drivers for biosimilar use to improve biosimilar uptake in France.

Conferences throughout 2022 shared new information on white bagging, the safety of biosimilar substitution, the use of a biobetter, and discussion around the role that pharmacy benefit managers play in biosimilar adoption.

News surrounding biosimilars referencing Humira (adalimumab) topped the list of biosimilar articles related to rheumatology in 2022, highlighting the excitement for these biosimilars to launch starting in early 2023.

Ian Henshaw, senior vice president and global head of biosimilars at Biogen, shares his thoughts on whether clinical efficacy and switching studies to establish biosimilar safety are necessary, a hotly debated topic in the biosimilars industry.

The American Journal of Managed Care, a sister site of The Center for Biosimilars, looked back at some of the most popular biosimilars content of 2022 to be published on AJMC.com.

The top 5 most-read articles about oncology within the biosimilars industry involved a number of FDA approvals and new data on the market impact of biosimilar competition on Roche’s blockbuster reference products.

John Gabrielson, senior vice president at JSR Life Sciences and head of Similis Bio, shares his perspective on how clinical efficacy testing and recent actions from the Biden Administration, such as the executive order on biotechnology investment, impact biosimilar development.

The “biosimilar-like” insulin glargine Basaglar was not less expensive for patients than the reference product, Lantus, concluded the authors of a retrospective analysis of commercial pharmacy claims and pharmacy co-payment offsets.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of December 19, 2022.

Ian Henshaw, senior vice president and global head of biosimilars at Biogen, describes the importance of awareness campaigns like the International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association's Global Biosimilars Week and how these initiatives can be leveraged to improve biosimilar adoption and acceptance.

Over 2 years after a cabinet vote to establish a biosimilar switching policy, the Ontario government is putting one in place, making it the seventh province and eighth jurisdiction in Canada to do so.

Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, breaks down the current status of biosimilar development and makes suggestions for which molecules manufacturers should target next in his newest column installment.

Janssen filed a lawsuit against Amgen, claiming the latter infringed on the former’s patents when creating its ustekinumab biosimilar, and Express Scripts announced that it would add adalimumab biosimilars to formulary.

On this episode, Brian Biehn, senior director of biosimilar commercialization at AmerisourceBergen, explored how the new year may play out for biosimilars, including his predictions or how uptake will be influenced in the adalimumab market and how government policies will impact the competitiveness of the market.

Despite recent steps taken by the FDA to streamline approvals and increase availability for biosimilars, biosimilar adoption has been slow and primarily driven by payers in the United States, signaling that more needs to be done to encourage adoption, according to experts at a virtual workshop hosted by the FDA and the University of Maryland.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of December 12, 2022.

Fresenius Kabi announced the FDA approval of its adalimumab biosimilar Idacio (adalimumab-aacf), making it the eighth biosimilar referencing Humira (adalimumab) to be approved in the United States.

In his newest column, Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, looks into the domestic and international support for removing interchangeability for biosimilars in the United States.

The FDA has accepted Biogen’s biologics license application for a tocilizumab biosimilar candidate (BIIB800) referencing Actemra for review.

John Gabrielson, senior vice president at JSR Life Sciences and head of Similis Bio, shares how the recent codevelopment deal between Similis and Blau Farmaceutica differs from commercialization and licensing deals many other companies have signed with each other.

A phase 1 study in China found that pharmacokinetics, safety, and immunogenicity were similar between the liraglutide biosimilar RD12014 and the reference product (Victoza) in healthy male participants.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of December 5, 2022.

Following their initial European launch of the drug, Alvotech and STADA Arzneimittel launch their adalimumab biosimilar referencing Humira in 7 more European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania, and Slovenia.

John Gabrielson, senior vice president at JSR Life Sciences and head of Similis Bio, talked about the challenges associated with launching a business venture like Similis Bio and how Similis Bio's business model differs from other biosimilar developers and their spin-offs.

Prime Therapeutics has officially acquired Magellan Rx Management, a popular pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the specialty pharmacy space. The acquisition was announced in May 2022 and includes the acquisition of Magellan Rx’s specialty, PBM, and government pharmaceutical and Medicaid business segments.

The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA) is launching a new program for health care professionals to become Board Certified Biologics and Biosimilars Specialists.

On this episode of Not So Different, we recap some of the big regulatory news to come out of November, including some progress for insulin biosimilars, the European approval of another ranibizumab biosimilar, and the congressional introduction of a US Senate bill that is seeking to nix switching study requirements for interchangeability.

The third in a series of clinical studies evaluating pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of Biocon’s recombinant human insulins compared to their reference products, found PK and PD equivalence between the biosimilar insulin-70/30 and Humulin-70/30.