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…
The FDA announced that it is soliciting public comments on the statement of work for the assessment of its proposed new model for the review of original Biologics License Applications submitted under section 351(k) of the Public Health Service Act. Last fall, we reported on the FDA’s performance goals for the reauthorization…
Yesterday, RAPS reported that the FDA is expecting the first interchangeable biosimilars to become available in the U.S. market within the next two years. Interchangeable biosimilars are those that “can be expected to produce the same clinical result as the reference product in any given patient.” In states with automatic substitution…
Health Canada, the federal regulatory authority that evaluates the safety, efficacy, and quality of drugs available in Canada recently released a revised Guidance Document on Information and Submission Requirements for Biosimilar Drugs (“Guidance”). The Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate (BGTD) within the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada is the…