Manufacturing, Biosimilars and Biobetters

Prefilled syringes for commercial supply of the etanercept biosimilar will be produced at Catalent’s Brussels facility in Belgium.

The company announced plans to begin shipping Inflectra to the US market in late November 2016.

The authors describe the qualification of an assay with applications for investigating functional comparability of an originator and biosimilar drug.

The companies are collaborating on the commercialization of two biosimilar candidates in the US and Canada.

Ravi Limaye gives an overview of the biosimilar industry and projects for 2020.

The agency approves Amjevita (adalimumab-atto) for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

CPhI outlines trends from the conference in Seoul.

Concerns have emerged that continued growth in the biosimilars market could be limited by mounting pressure to push down on prescription drug outlays.

Sandoz won FDA approval for its biosimilar version of Enbrel.

The agency has adopted guidelines on the pharmacovigilance of biological drugs.

The agency will review Mylan and Biocon’s biosimilar to pegfilgrastim.

Amgen and Allergan’s biosimilar to popular breast cancer drug Herceptin is comparable to the innovator molecule, Amgen recently announced.

FDA said in briefing documents ahead of a July 13, 2016 meeting that Sandoz’s biosimilar GP2015 has “no clinically meaningful differences” with the US-licensed and EU-licensed versions of Enbrel (etanercept) in terms of safety, purity, and potency.

Biosimilar makers may have to wait an additional 180 days after receiving FDA approval before they can bring their drugs to market, according to a United States Federal Circuit Court ruling. On July 5, 2016 the court ruled in Amgen v. Apotex that after a biosimilar receives FDA approval, companies must notify reference product sponsors and wait 180 days before bringing the drug to market, a requirement in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act.

The assay will provide information on biosimilar comparability.

A study shows high levels of ADAs to infliximab at the beginning of treatment were associated with a poor response later on.

Pending regulatory approval, Sandoz plans to release biosimilars to etanercept, adalimumab, pegfilgrastim, infliximab, and rituximab.

A study published in BMJ indicates that rheumatic patients with anti-infliximab antibodies may have a similar cross reaction to infliximab biosimilars.

Alvotech prepares for commercial biosimilar production in new facility with single-use bioreactors in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The agency reiterated its earlier decision to require suffixes in biosimilar naming, but was unclear on suffix meaning.

New pharmacovigilance activities seek to support the creation of guidelines for safe switching from innovator products to biosimilars.

More efforts are needed to raise awareness of biosimilars among physicians and patients in Europe and address scepticisms about the quality and safety of biosimilars.

Sandoz is seeking approval for the same indications as Roche’s reference product MabThera.

FDA accepted for review Samsung Bioepis’ BLA for SB2, a biosimilar to Remicade (infliximab).

The American College of Rheumatology released a statement encouraging FDA to apply distinct names to biosimilars and maximize clarity in labels.