The Top 5 Biosimilar Articles for the Week of May 17

Hi, I’m Skylar Jeremias for The Center for Biosimilars®, your resource for clinical, regulatory, business, and policy news in the rapidly changing world of biosimilars.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of May 17, 2021.

Number 5: Various House members have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to open an antitrust investigation into pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, which allegedly has exceeded its patent rights in preventing biosimilar competition to arthritis drug Humira (adalimumab) in the United States.

Number 4: Investigators in Germany said that a comparison of adalimumab biosimilar (Amgevita) vs originator (Humira) treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis has demonstrated significant cost savings for earlier treatment overall.

Number 3: Sandoz has lost a bid to bring its etanercept biosimilar to market before 2029, as the Supreme Court declined to review the company’s petition to invalidate 2 patents held by Amgen for the reference drug, Enbrel.

Number 2: With the pandemic tapering off in the United States and its sales force vaccinated, Coherus BioSciences hopes that returning its sales representatives to the field this spring will counter relatively flat sales of its pegfilgrastim biosimilar (Udenyca).

Number 1: The FDA’s interchangeability designation for biosimilars was intended to improve uptake and acceptance of these agents, but so far it has created misperception and confusion, according to Albert Kim, MBA, vice president of the Commercial Division at Samsung Bioepis.

To read all of these articles and more, visit centerforbiosimilars.com.