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"We argue that the default should be that biosimilars are interchangeable, unless there is compelling evidence otherwise," write Hans C. Ebers, PhD, of Biogen, and Hubb Schellekens, MD, PhD, of Utrecht University.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has reintroduced a bill he thinks will speed US approval of drugs, biologics, or devices approved in other countries.

Was political infighting within the administration a reason for withdrawal of the rebate rule? That would certainly be a sad testament to our political system.

Samsung Bioepis has announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review its market authorization application for SB8, a proposed bevacizumab biosimilar referencing Avastin.

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.

Celltrion formed Vcell Healthcare Limited with Nan Fung Group with the aim of commercializing 3 biosimilars in China.

When the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released bipartisan legislation aimed at lowering the cost of healthcare in the United States in May, biosimilar stakeholders had some cause for optimism. However, one provision of the bill that has garnered significantly less attention from the broader healthcare community has raised concerns among many biologics stakeholders.

The first anticancer biosimilars have arrived on the US market. Amgen and Allergan have announced the launch of Mvasi, a bevacizumab biosimilar referencing Avastin, and Kanjinti, a trastuzumab biosimilar referencing Herceptin, in the United States.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of July 15, 2019.

The top 3 drugs in 2018 in the United States by spending were adalimumab, insulin glargine, and etanercept, according to a study in The American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, which also predicted that drug spending will grow 4% to 6% this year.

Patients with inflammatory diseases in the United States continue to wait for the availability of a biosimilar etanercept, despite the 2016 approval of Erelzi and the 2019 approval of Eticovo. However, in the European context, biosimilar etanercept is already available, and recently presented data demonstrate that, in some countries, use of the biosimilar is high and making an impact on healthcare costs.

The retrospective, observational, multicenter study included 141 patients, 96 with ulcerative colitis and 45 with Crohn disease, at 14 centers in Italy.

A hospital for rheumatological diseases in the United Kingdom is participating in an international study that is examining real-world evidence about patient experiences after they switch from reference adalimumab (Humira) to a biosimilar, Imraldi.

A variety of policy proposals have been put forward to help spur the US uptake of biosimilars, from legislative solutions to regulatory changes, but some providers are taking the matter into their own hands with concerted efforts to bring biosimilars to the clinic.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), enacting the bill would increase direct spending by about $18.7 billion and increase direct revenues by $26.2 billion, resulting in a net decrease in the deficit of $7.6 billion by 2029.

Medicare Part D enrollees may actually pay more for some generic drugs than they would for their brand-name counterparts because of the Part D benefit, according to findings of a new study appearing in Health Affairs.

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

Republic of Korea–based drug maker Celltrion announced this week that it is launching its first clinical trial of CT-P39, a proposed biosimilar omalizumab referencing Xolair. The company says that it plans to enter phase 3 trials in the first half of 2020 and has plans to commercialize the biosimilar by 2022.

A recent study found no difference in the risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) or major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) associated with ustekinumab versus anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy in patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis.

Six months after launching its biosimilar pegfilgrastim, Udenyca, Coherus BioSciences announced that it has produced more that 400,000 prefilled syringes of its product.

Access to biologic drugs is uneven, even in nations with relatively robust healthcare resources. In lower-resource areas, such as Eastern Europe, access to biologic therapy for diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be very limited.

As more health systems seek to make use of the cost savings associated with biosimilars, data continue to accrue to support switching patients to these products. One recent paper, published in The Journal of Clinical Medicine, reported that, after a switch from reference infliximab to biosimilar CT-P13 (Inflectra, Remsima), patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who switched to the biosimilar remained in remission at 18 months post-switch.

This week, Mylan launched its biosimilar adalimumab, Hulio, in Spain. The biosimilar, referencing Humira, was developed by Mylan’s partner, Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics, and received European authorization in September 2018.

More than 100 House Democrats this week wrote to US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to ask him to drop language from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade agreement that would give 10 years of marketing exclusivity for biologic drugs.

Singapore-based Prestige BioPharma announced this week that its HD204, a proposed biosimilar bevacizumab product referencing Avastin, met its primary end point in a phase 1 study evaluating the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and immunogenicity of the biosimilar in comparison to its reference.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of July 8, 2019.

Samsung Bioepis, developer of the biosimilar trastuzumab, Ontruzant, and Genentech, maker of the reference trastuzumab, Herceptin, have asked a court to dismiss their patent litigation.

A secondary post hoc analysis of patients who had neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and were treated with intravitreal aflibercept or ranibizumab—2 widely used anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapies—found that those with certain characteristics had a substantial risk of conversion to AMD in the untreated eye.

Given the extended time necessary to do the additional required study and the reality that some may not prescribe or be willing to take a biosimilar unless it has an interchangeability designation, Sandoz is concerned that the separate regulatory designation of "interchangeability" will delay patient access to these therapeutic options.

The Trump administration has withdrawn its proposal to block rebates and discounts given by drug makers to pharmacy benefit managers, Part D plans, and Medicaid managed care organizations.