Today, the FDA approved Celltrion’s Herzuma (trastuzumab-pkrb), a biosimilar that references Genentech’s Herceptin (trastuzumab), for the treatment of patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, in accordance with the FDA-approved label. Celltrion’s product is the subject of ongoing BPCIA litigation, pending before the District of Delaware. This marks the seventh biosimilar the FDA has approved…
The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has denied Johnson & Johnson and Janssen’s (“J&J”) motion to dismiss antitrust claims filed by Walgreens and Kroger concerning sales of J&J’s Remicade. In the case, the retailers allege antitrust injury based on higher prices paid to distributors Amerisource Bergen and Cardinal…
Yesterday, December 12, 2018, the Board issued Final Written Decisions finding Claims 1-25 of U.S. Patent No. 7,476,652 (IPR2017-01526) and Claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 7,713,930 (IPR2017-01528) unpatentable as obvious over the prior art. IPR2017-01526 and IPR2017-01528 were two of a number of IPR petitions filed by Mylan against…
Today, the FDA issued four new biosimilar guidances, as well as a proposed rule. According to a statement by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, two of the guidance documents—the draft guidance titled “The ‘Deemed to be a License’ Provision of the BPCI Act Questions and Answers” and the final guidance “Interpretation…
Express Scripts has announced “a new drug reimbursement list with lower U.S. prices for brand-name medications, as a way to encourage drugmakers to move away from paying rebates after a prescription is filled.” You can read Express Scripts’s press release here. According to the Biosimilars Council, this could provide a particular opportunity…
In March this year, Amgen sued Adello Biologics under the BPCIA in the District of New Jersey for infringement of seventeen patents, based on Adello’s submission of an aBLA for a biosimilar of Neupogen® (filgrastim). In October, Amgen filed an amended complaint, reducing the number of asserted patents to four,…
As we have reported, over the course of the past thirteen months Plaintiffs Genentech, Inc. and City of Hope sued each of Pfizer, Celltrion and Teva, Amgen and Samsung Bioepis in the District of Delaware for patent infringement under the BPCIA based on their submissions of aBLAs seeking FDA approval…
Last week, Coherus BioSciences, Inc. announced that it had entered into a 340B prime vendor program contract agreement with Apexus, LLC. This agreement includes Udenyca™, which, as we reported last month, is the second biosimilar of Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim) to have received FDA approval. According to the press release, Apexus’s president, Chris Hatwig, stated…
Over the past month, several drug developers announced updates regarding their biosimilar programs. Below are some highlights, in addition to the many biosimilar developments on which we have already reported: Today, December 3, 2018, Celltrion announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted Celltrion’s Extension Marketing Authorisation Application for…
Today, AbbVie and Pfizer announced that they reached a global resolution of all intellectual property-related litigation concerning Pfizer’s proposed biosimilar adalimumab. According to the press releases, AbbVie has granted Pfizer a non-exclusive license to AbbVie’s intellectual property relating to adalimumab in the United States and other countries. All litigation pending between the parties…