“Patent Thickets” on Biologics and What Could Be Done To Chop Them Down to Size
May 10th 2022Multiple patents on original biologics delay when biosimilars get on the market in the US. University of Denver Sturm College of Law legal experts argue in a preprint that changes in how the original patents are written could reduce the number of duplicative patents and legal gamesmanship.
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Will Cyltezo Be Accepted As Interchangeabe With Humira? Researchers Sow Some Doubt.
May 10th 2022A Cleveland Clinic researcher anticipates that the FDA’s definition of strength of formulation could impair acceptance of Boehringer Ingelheim’s biosimilar to Humira (adalimumab), even though the FDA has approved the biosimilar as “interchangeable” to Humira.
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Biosimilars Made a Significant Dent on 2021 Drug Spending
May 9th 2022Although spending on prescription drugs marched higher in 2021, the spending might have been significantly higher were it not for the savings from biosimilars, which appear to be gaining traction, according to a new report.
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Humira Biosimilars Are Hitting the Market in 2023. Finally. But Will Prescriptions Follow?
April 7th 2022Marcus Snow, MD, , chair of the American College of Rheumatology’s Committee on Rheumatologic Care, discusses how additional clinical data and interchangeability designations could help build momentum for use of Humira (adalimumab) biosimilars when they start to arrive in 2023.
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Biosimilars Are Supposed to Save Money. Providence St. Joseph Health Has Made That Happen.
April 6th 2022Using an aggressive utilization management approach, Providence St. Joseph Health directed physicians toward the use of biosimilars immediately after they came to market, saving nearly $27 million over two years in the process, according to Sophia Z. Humphreys, Pharm.D., M.H.A., the healthcare system’s director of system pharmacy clinical Services.
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Study: Biosimilar of Rituxan Safe in Children
March 13th 2022A large prospective study of the use of Rituxan (rituximab) and a biosimilar, Novex, has yielded safety data validating the use of this agent in pediatric patients with a wide range of diseases and conditions, ranging from oncologic and hematologic to neurologic.
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Biosimilars to AMD Drugs: The Obstacles In Their Way
March 4th 2022Off-label Avastin, Eylea and Lucentis are the primary treatments for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness. A recent review article looked at the impediments to the biosimilars for these drugs Ophthalmologists are wary about using biosimilars to Avastin (which was approved as a cancer drug) for AMD. Biosimilars to Eylea and Lucentis are not on the market yet. Manufacturers’ rebates and Medicare Part B “buy and bill” policies could make it difficult for them to compete against their brand-name “originator” products.
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Viatris is Getting Out of Biosimilars Business… But Not Completely
March 3rd 2022The company announced this week that it is selling its biologics unit to Biocon Biologics, but Viatris is also slated to have a stake in the biosimilars entity that will bring together Biocon Biologic’s biosimilar operations and those that Viatris is selling off.
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