FDA Updates Draft Guidance on Promotional Communications of Prescription Biologics and Biosimilars On April 25, 2024, the FDA published a notice of availability in the Federal Register for its revised draft guidance, entitled “Promotional Labeling and Advertising Considerations for Prescription Biological Reference Products, Biosimilar Products, and Interchangeable Biosimilar Products: Questions…
On April 29, 2024, Accord BioPharma, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved HERCESSI (trastuzumab-strf). HERCESSI is a biosimilar to HERCEPTIN (trastuzumab) and is indicated for adjuvant treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, the treatment of HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer, and the treatment of HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric…
On April 25, 2024, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of marketing authorization for Biogen Netherlands B.V.’s biosimilar TOFIDENCE (tocilizumab), for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA) and coronavirus disease…
On April 23, 2024, Alvotech announced “positive topline results from a confirmatory clinical study for AVT05,” Alvotech’s proposed golimumab biosimilar to Janssen Biotech, Inc.’s SIMPONI(R) and SIMPONI ARIA(R). According to Alvotech, the confirmatory clinical study (NCT05842213) was a randomized, double-blind, two-arm, multicenter clinical study designed to investigate the therapeutic equivalency…
On April 16, Alvotech and Teva announced the FDA approval of SELARSDI™ (ustekinumab-aekn), biosimilar to Johnson and Johnson’s STELERA® (ustekinumab). The product was approved as a subcutaneous injection for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 6 years and older with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and for active psoriatic…
On April 4, 2024, Bristol Myers Squibb (“BMS”) and 2seventy bio, Inc. announced that the FDA has approved ABECMA (idecabtagene vicleucel) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after two or more prior lines of therapy including an immunomodulatory agent (IMiD), a proteasome inhibitor (PI),…
On April 5, the FDA granted accelerated approval to AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s ENHERTU (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (IHC3+) solid tumors who have received prior systemic treatment and have no satisfactory alternative treatment options. ENHERTU, which is now FDA-approved for five indications, is a…
On March 18, 2024, the FDA approved Orchard Therapeutics’ LENMELDY, the first approved gene therapy for the treatment of children with metachromatic leukodysrophy (MLD). MLD is a rare, fatal genetic disease affecting approximately one in every 40,000 individuals in the U.S. LENMELDY is made from patient’s own hematopoietic (blood) stem…
The Biden Administration recently released a 2025 Budget Proposal which includes permitting biosimilar substitution without the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) separate determination of interchangeability. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)’s 2025 proposed budget includes a budget-neutral provision for allowing biosimilar substitution without a separate determination…
Celltrion USA announced on March 18, 2024, the availability of ZYMFENTRA™ (infliximab-dyyb), a subcutaneous (SC) formulation of infliximab. ZYMFENTRA™, approved by the FDA in October 2023, is the first FDA-approved SC infliximab for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis and moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease, with…