In an effort to enhance development of medical products for orphan diseases (or rare diseases), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on October 8, 2020 that it awarded six new grants for clinical trial research, including a grant for ustekinumab (STELARA®) for the prevention of graft versus host disease. …
On August 10, 2020, Equillium, Inc. announced its interim data for its study of itolizumab as a first-line treatment in patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). GVHD is a multisystem disorder that is a common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants, and is the leading cause of non-relapse mortality…
Today Alvotech and Teva announced that they have entered into an exclusive strategic partnership for the commercialization of five biosimilar candidates in the U.S. Under the partnership agreement, Alvotech will be responsible for the development, registration and supply of the biosimilars, and Teva will be exclusively commercializing the products in…
Regeneron’s EYLEA (aflibercept) was approved by the U.S. FDA on November 18, 2011 and is indicated for the treatment of patients with Neovascular (Wet) Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Macular Edema following Retinal Vein Occlusion (RVO), Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR). As previously reported, Momenta in collaboration with Mylan began…
The U.S. FDA recently approved Genentech’s Phesgo™ for the treatment of early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, in combination with chemotherapy. Phesgo™ is a fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase, administered via subcutaneous injection. Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics recently announced that it received approval in Japan for its adalimumab…
On June 10, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Pfizer’s NYVEPRIA (pegfilgrastim-apgf), a biosimilar of Amgen’s NEULASTA. NYVEPRIA is indicated to “decrease the incidence of infection, as manifested by febrile neutropenia, in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive anti-cancer drugs associated with a clinically significant incidence of…
Fresenius Kabi announced on May 27, 2020 that the FDA “accepted for review the company’s Biologics License Application (BLA) for MSB11455,” a biosimilar candidate of NEULASTA (pegfilgrastim). According to the press release, this is Fresenius Kabi’s first biosimilar candidate submitted to the FDA. Fresenius Kabi also received acceptance for review…
As we have previously reported, in February 2020 FDA and FTC announced a joint collaboration “to advance competition in the biologic marketplace.” On March 9th, the two agencies held a public workshop to discuss their “collaborative efforts to support appropriate adoption of biosimilars, discourage false or misleading statements about biosimilars, and…
Swedish biotechnology company Xbrane Biopharma reports that, despite the difficulties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, it will continue to recruit patients for the ongoing Phase III trial of its Xlucane® (ranibizumab) biosimilar product, and that it is still on track towards regulatory approval ahead of Lucentis® patent expiration in the…
Lannett has announced that it will meet with the FDA on June 9, 2020, to “plan next steps for the clinical advancement of” its insulin glargine biosimilar product. According to the press release, “[i]nsulin glargine is a long-acting insulin used to treat adults with Type 2 diabetes, as well as…