Pursuant to the five year reauthorization of FDA’s user fee programs for prescription drugs, generic drugs, and biosimilars, FDA recently released its five-year financial plans (2018-2022) for the programs. The plans “communicate the anticipated financial positions of the Biosimilar User Fee Amendments of 2017 (BsUFA II), the Generic Drug User…
USP stated last week that it will not develop new product-specific monographs for biologics without stakeholder consensus in supporting their creation, including the support of FDA. USP had proposed revisions for these monographs in which “the official title shall be the title specified in the relevant monograph plus any suffix…
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. …
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…
The Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that Merck and Samsung Bioepis’ biosimilar to trastuzumab (Herceptin®), SB3, demonstrated equivalence to trastuzumab in recent Phase III trials. According to the report, in a phase III, randomized, double-blind study of 800 women with HER2-positive breast cancer, SB3 induced a rate of breast pathologic complete…
Last week, Johnson & Johnson held its earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2017. During the call, company representatives discussed an 8% decline in U.S. sales for Remicade as Johnson & Johnson “continued to compete in the phase of biosimilar entries.” As we previously reported, there are two biosimilars…
Sandoz, a division of Novartis, announced on Tuesday that the FDA has accepted for review its BLA under the 351(k) pathway for a biosimilar candidate to AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab). According to the press release, adalimumab “is indicated for the treatment of a number of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis,…
On January 11, FDA announced the release of its 2018 Strategic Policy Roadmap, which provides an overview of several policy areas that FDA intends to focus on in 2018. FDA noted that, among these policy areas, it planned to “leverage innovation and competition to improve health care, broaden access, and…
Last week FDA issued new guidance for industry and FDA review staff, entitled “Best Practices for Communication Between IND Sponsors and FDA During Drug Development.” The guidance is intended to “describe best practices and procedures for timely, transparent, and effective communications between [IND] sponsors and FDA at critical junctures in…
We previously reported that on September 12, 2017, the FDA accepted for review Sandoz’s aBLA for a proposed biosimilar of Rituxan® (rituximab), which is indicated for the treatment of certain blood cancers and immunological diseases. Yesterday, Genentech filed a complaint in the District of New Jersey based on Sandoz’s proposed rituximab biosimilar, Rixathon/GP2013. Genentech…