Today FDA announced that it will hold a public meeting on October 20, 2016 to discuss its proposed recommendations for the reauthorization of the Biosimilar User Fee Act, which permits FDA to collect fees and use them for the process for the review of aBLAs. The current legislative authority for BsUFA…
As we previously reported, over the past year several petitions requesting Inter Partes Review (IPR) of patents that claim foundational inventions for biologic drug production were filed. Here we discuss the scope of two of the foundational patents that are currently under consideration by the Patent Trial and Appeals Board…
As we reported in August, the Federal Circuit denied Hospira’s motion to dismiss Amgen’s interlocutory appeal from the district court (D.Del., J. Andrews) regarding a discovery dispute. The court ordered the parties to brief the merits of the discovery dispute and the issue of whether the circuit court had jurisdiction…
According to Business Wire, on September 12, 2016, Samsung Bioepis announced that it has added Canada to its growing list of jurisdictions in which it has received regulatory approval for its biosimilar of Amgen’s Enbrel® (etanercept). The biosimilar will be marketed in Canada under the brand Brenzys® as a treatment…
On Thursday, September 8, Express Scripts introduced its Inflammatory Conditions Care Value Program, which it says is a “comprehensive approach to control costs and improve care for people with inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s Disease.” According to the Express Scripts press release announcing the program, approximately 10 million…
On September 9, 2016, Hospira filed a petition for an IPR of U.S. Patent No. 7,622,115, owned by Genentech. The ‘115 patent claims methods of treating various cancers with bevacizumab, which is marketed by Genentech under the brand name Avastin®. Please see our IPR tracker page for all important IPR…
On September 8, 2016, the Board instituted an IPR of U.S. Patent No. 6,331,415, one of the Cabilly patents owned by Genentech. The Petitioner in IPR2016-00710 is Mylan. The ’415 patent was the subject of two other IPRS that were terminated last week following settlements between Genentech and those Petitioners, Sanofi-Aventis and…
The FDA has announced a 2-day public hearing related to communications by manufacturers, packers, and distributors, regarding, in part, drugs licensed as biological products. There will be a particular focus on communications about unapproved uses of their approved/cleared medical products, including biologics. The public hearing will be held on November…
Precision for Value evaluated various considerations that factor into the level of biosimilars uptake, focusing primarily on Europe’s recent introduction of biosimilar anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs (anti-TNF drugs). Amongst its findings, the authors discovered that discounts do not correlate to the level of biosimilar uptake, and that factors such as…
On September 2, 2016, the PTAB terminated IPR2015-01624 and IPR2016-00460, both of which challenged U.S. Patent No. 6,331,415, one of Genentech’s Cabilly patents. The Petitioners in those IPRs were Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme, respectively. The parties in each IPR had filed a joint request for termination following a confidential settlement agreement….