At CNBC’s Healthy Returns conference last week, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb discussed plans to encourage competition and speed approval of biosimilars. His comments largely tracked a statement that he made in early March. Gottlieb again criticized arrangements between distributors, pharmacy benefit managers, and health plans, which he views as restricting market access. …
The results of a Phase III study of LBEC0101, a biosimilar to Enbrel (etanercept) developed by Korean pharmaceutical company LG Chem, have been published. The study evaluated the similarities between LBEC0101 and the etanercept reference product (ETN-RP) in terms of efficacy and safety, including immunogenicity, in patients with active rheumatoid…
Last week, both Wisconsin and West Virginia passed legislation intended to facilitate the dispensing and substitution of biosimilar products. Wisconsin and West Virginia join Michigan, which enacted House Bill 4472 on February 28, as the latest states to approve biosimilar access bills. On Wednesday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed Senate…
In a letter sent on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, to the CEO of the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, FDA’s Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director of the Center for Drugs Evaluation and Research, raised FDA’s concerns that USP’s proposed…
A number of media sources have covered new developments in the biosimilars space. Here is a round-up of some highlights from this month. Reuters reports that biosimilars, including biosimilar versions of Rituxan and Herceptin, have begun to capture a large portion of the British biosimilar market, whereas approvals and adoptions…
Biocon announced yesterday that it has received marketing authorization approval from the European Commission for Semglee™ (insulin glargine). The decision came after receiving a positive recommendation by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency. According to the press release, this is the first…
Over the past several weeks, there have been numerous developments in U.S. patent litigation activity relating to biosimilars of Neupogen® (filgrastim) and Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim). Below is a summary of these developments. Amgen v. Adello: New BPCIA Complaint First, on March 8, 2018, Amgen filed a complaint against Adello Biologics in the…
Last week the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) of the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) recommended two biosimilar medicines for approval. First, the CHMP adopted a positive opinion for the marketing authorization of Kanjinti® (ABP 980), Amgen and Allergan’s proposed biosimilar to Herceptin® (trastuzumab). The CHMP opinion recommends…
Last month, Robert Bahr, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy at the USPTO issued a memorandum to the Patent Examining Corps addressing written description of antibody claims. Many patents covering biological products contain antibody claims. A major focus of the USPTO memorandum is the Federal Circuit’s decision in Amgen v….
Below is our first quarter update on the U.S. patent litigations concerning proposed or approved biosimilar products. For additional details, please consult our previous quarterly updates (Q3 2016, Q4 2016, Q1 2017, Q2 2017, Q3 2017, Q4 2017).