Cinfa Biotech, a Spanish company focusing on the development of biosimilars, announced positive results from their second clinical trial evaluating a biosimilar version of Amgen’s Neulasta (pegfilgrastim). According to the company’s press release, the trial demonstrates that Cinfa Biotech’s biosimilar is comparable to Amgen’s Neulasta in terms of pharmacodynamics, immunogenicity, and…
We previously reported that Apotex filed a Citizen’s Petition requesting that FDA require biosimilar applicants to conduct comparative clinical efficacy studies in at least one intended patient population, rather than conducting such studies only in healthy subjects. Apotex noted in its petition that Coherus has filed an aBLA for a Neulasta…
As we previously reported, the FDA announced that the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) will hold a public meeting on May 25, 2017 to discuss Hospira’s application for a proposed biosimilar of Amgen’s Epogen®/Procrit® (epoetin alfa). The FDA has now posted meetings materials associated with the May 25th meeting. The…
Pfizer, Inc. has filed two petitions for IPR of Chugai Pharmaceutical’s patents: IPR2017-01357 on U.S. Patent 7,332,289 and IPR2017-01358 on U.S. Patent 7,927,815. According to the petitions, both patents are directed to methods for purifying antibodies. The petitions do not identify a particular product that may use the patented methods….
A Stipulation and Scheduling Order for Trial (Order) entered on May 19, 2017 in the Amgen v. Sandoz litigation rescheduled trial for March 26, 2018 (from December 18, 2017), and pushed back other pre-trial deadlines. According to the Order, the parties had previously proposed separate modified schedules, but at a…
Today, the Supreme Court ruled in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC that for venue purposes in patent litigations, a domestic corporation “resides” only in its state of incorporation. This ruling reflects a significant departure from current patent litigation practice, which treated a domestic corporation as residing…
On May 17, 2017, Janssen filed a complaint under the BPCIA in the District of New Jersey against Samsung Bioepis Co., Ltd. regarding Renflexis® (infliximab-abda), Samsung Bioepis’s recently approved biosimilar of Remicade®. The complaint alleges infringement of three patents: U.S. Patent No. 7,598,083, 6,900,056 and 6,773,600. According to the complaint, the…
The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) and the Biosimilars Council, a division of AAM, released comments today on FDA’s Draft Guidance on Considerations in Demonstrating Interchangeability With a Reference Product (“Draft Guidance”), which was made publicly available in January 2017. AAM, previously known as the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, represents “the manufacturers…
GE Healthcare announced today that Dr. Reddy’s will install GE Healthcare’s FlexFactory in Dr. Reddy’s facility in Hyderabad, India. According to the press release, “FlexFactory will help Dr. Reddy’s increase its capacity to meet both the expected growth of its currently marketed biosimilars as well as support the launch of…
On May 11, 2017, Scott Gottlieb was sworn in as the 23rd Commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Before his confirmation, Gottlieb was vocal about his disapproval of the FDA’s “well-established” attitude: an excessive desire for certainty, which he says “is impeding the availability of safe, effective drugs…