On September 20, 2021, the FDA issued a revised final guidance for industry entitled “Questions and Answers on Biosimilar Development and the BPCI Act” and a third revision to its draft guidance entitled “New and Revised Draft Q&As on Biosimilar Development and the BPCI Act.” According to FDA, the guidance…
Last week, FDA issued a notice of public meeting and request for comment relating to proposed recommendations for the reauthorization of the Biosimilar User Fee Act (“BsUFA”) for fiscal years 2023 to 2027. We have previously reported on BsUFA rates for the 2022 fiscal year. The BsUFA authorizes FDA to…
On September 20, 2021, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a scheduling order in AbbVie v. Alvotech, No. 21-2258, 21-2899 (N.D. Ill.). As we previously reported, AbbVie Inc. (“AbbVie”) brought an action on April 27, 2021, in the Northern District of Illinois for patent infringement against…
On September 13, 2021 BeiGene announced the FDA’s acceptance of its BLA for tislelizumab in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). While tislelizumab is already approved for five indications in China, this marks the first ex-China regulatory filing for the biologic. The BLA was filed in collaboration with Novartis and is…
Samsung Bioepis, Co. Ltd. and Biogen Inc. announced yesterday that their biosimilar product BYOOVIZ™ (ranibizumab-nuna) was approved by FDA. BYOOVIZ™ is a biosimilar to LUCENTIS®, which is indicated for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, and myopic choroidal neovascularization. As Biogen noted, BYOOVIZ™…
Last week, results of Tanvex’s phase III study on its trastuzumab biosimilar candidate (TX05) were published in connection with the European Society for Medical Oncology’s (ESMO’s) Congress 2021. The study compared the efficacy and safety of TX05 to Herceptin in patients with HER2+ early breast cancer. The poster provides the…
The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended approval of Alvotech‘s high-concentration AVT02 (100 mg/mL), a proposed biosimilar to Humira® (adalimumab). Humira® is approved to treat certain inflammatory conditions. Róbert Wessman, Founder and Chairman of Alvotech, announced, “We are delighted by the CHMP’s…
On August 5, 2021, Formycon and Bioeq announced submission of the biologics license application for FYB201 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FYB201 is a biosimilar candidate to Lucentis(R)1 (Ranibizumab), which is used in the treatment of neovascular (wet) macular degeneration and other serious eye diseases. If approved, Coherus…
On September 10, 2021, Janet Woodcock, the acting FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the FDA, sent a letter to Andrew Hirshfield, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) “pursuant to Executive Order 14036, and in the hope…
Recently, JHL Biotech co-founders Racho Jordanov and Rose Lin pled guilty and were convicted of conspiring to steal trade secrets related to Genentech’s cystic fibrosis drug Pulmozyme, and cancer drugs Rituxan, Herceptin, and Avastin. Although Jordanov and Lin initially pled not guilty, the former JHL employees later admitted to hiring…