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Biotechnology, Health and Business in Canada, the United States and Worldwide

Tag Archives: Biosimilars

Biotech Trends in 2011: Biosimilars

In our original post on biosimilars, Lumira Capital’s Beni Rovinski set out the business opportunities, the technical challenges and the regulatory hurdles facing follow-on biologics in 2009. Since then, as Beni predicted, a series of pharma deals have followed Merck’s Insimed acquisition, and the regulatory framework in North America has been clarified substantially, with final Health Canada guidance having been [...]

Biotech Trends Update — Biosimilars Blur IP Constituencies: Novartis and Pfizer-Biocon are Featured in the Economist

Two 9-figure announcements this week mark a turning point for the biosimilars market, and one highlights the increasingly important role India plays in innovation. Pfizer linked up with India’s Biocon in a deal that will see Biocon take the lead in development of four biosimilar insulin products that gives Biocon $200 million up front. Coverage of [...]

Biotech Trends Update — Biosimilars: FDA Meeting Formally Announced, EMA Working on Rules for (a few) Antibody Biosimilars

Reuters reports that the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has already approved 13 biosimilars, is expecting to publish guidelines in November on biosimilar antibody therapeutics. EMA Executive Director Thomas Lonngren said that clinical trials will be required for antibody biosimilars (as they are for the products EMA has approved to date), but that requirements were [...]

Biotech Trends Update — Biosimilars: FDA Meeting in November to Discuss BCPI Act Implementation

Adam Feuerstein at TheStreet.com reported this morning on a draft FDA notice for a planned November meeting on implementation of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, which was passed as part of the healthcare reform legislation. The BPCI Act (42 U.S.C. 262(k)(8)) provides for the FDA to author guidance “with respect to the licensure [...]

Patent Cliff Will Not Save Biotech: Abbott Buys Indian Generics Company Piramal Healthcare

I often hear how the upcoming loss of patent protection for current blockbusters creates an insatiable demand at pharma companies for new pipeline products from biotechs. Here’s an example from 2007. Here’s one from last week. This is not true. Upcoming loss of patent protection creates a insatiable demand for revenue, but new products are not [...]

Biotech Trends at BIO 2010

As I’m preparing for the BIO conference in Chicago next week, I’m excited to see that several of the biotech trends we’ve been following on the blog are showing up as conference sessions. Interested in “A New Kind of Non-Dilutive Financing and Fundraising: Partnering With Not-for-Profits”? Get an early start at our trends page on [...]

Subsequent Entry Biologics (aka Biosimilars) get Final Health Canada Guidance, 6 Years of Data Exclusivity

Health Canada released the finalized version of its Guidance Document for ”Subsequent Entry Biologics” (SEBs).  The final version is mostly the same as the draft guidance released last March, and actually comes after the approval of Canada’s first SEB last April. SEBs are a class of drugs that the EU calls “biosimilars” and the U.S. calls [...]

Biotech Trends Update: Teva’s BLA for Neupoval is Accepted at the FDA

Teva’s decision last year to submit a full biologic license application (BLA) for Neupoval looks positively prescient today.  Teva’s product is already sold in the EU as a biosimilar to Amgen’s Neupogen, but a U.S. biosimilars pathway is stalled along with the rest of health reform and today, the FDA accepted Teva’s BLA, clearing the way for a review of [...]

Top Four Biotech Trends of 2009

These may not all be consensus picks (and don’t miss the IVB’s year-end deal-centric fun) but I’m sticking with these four trends as the ones that have really shaped the year that was: Follow-on Biologics. Call them what you want (we like “biosimilars”, but we’re internationalist like that), there’s no denying that biosimilars were a major [...]

Trends Update — Biosimilars: The State of Play of U.S. Follow-on Biologics Legislation

With the Senate Finance Committee voting this week in favour of its health reform bill, the legislative process will now move on to an attempt to reconcile the House bill and the two Senate bills in conference. What does this mean for a biosimilars pathway?  Will there be one?  What will the exclusivity period be?  [...]

Trends Update — Biosimilars: Sen. Kennedy, Gov. Dean and NVCA Study all Support 12+ Years of Exclusivity

The debate over the proper data exclusivity period for innovator biologics (as protection against biosimilars/follow-on biologics/subsequent-entry biologics) had a busy week last week. On Wednesday, two Democrats told the Obama administration where to stick its 7-year “generous compromise”:  Howard Dean published an op-ed supporting a 12-year exclusivity period and Bloomberg wrote up a renewed effort [...]

Trends Update — Shifting IP Constituencies: Perkin Elmer and Mylan in India, Branded Generics Everywhere and China’s R&D Budget all Point to Change

In our continuing Trends in 2009 series on shifting IP constituencies, we’ve been following increasing innovative activity in the developing world, and innovator pharma’s increasing moves towards generics and biosimilars.  This week saw updates on both fronts: PerkinElmer announced plans to open a Bio-pharma Center of Excellence in Hyderabad, India, later this year, citing “growth [...]

Trends Update — Biosimilars: Obama Administration Supports 7-Year Exclusivity Period

The Obama administration offered up a 7-year data exclusivity period for biologics, calling it a “generous compromise” in a letter to Rep. Waxman from Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the Office of Health Reform, and Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, picked up by Bloomberg this week. I’ve had my money on an [...]

FTC Weighs In: Favors Compromise on Biosimilars Exclusivity, Disfavors Pay-For-Delay

The FTC released a report today that explores the economics of biosimilars’ market entry and competition.  It predicts that biosimilars will be priced only 10 to 30% under their corresponding pioneer biologics; and that pioneer biologics will retain 70-90% of their market share subsequent to biosimilar market entry.  Based on these predictions, the FTC concludes that the proposed [...]

Canada’s First Subsequent Entry Biologic!

Guest post from Jill Daley, part of our all-star life sciences team at Ogilvy: Today, Sandoz Canada announced that Health Canada has granted it a market authorization for Omnitrope™. This announcement marks the approval of the first subsequent entry biologic (SEB, also known as a “follow-on biologic” (FOB) in the U.S. or a “biosimilar” in the [...]

Waxman Drives Hard Bargain on FOBs Market Exclusivity

Representatives Waxman (D-CA), Pallone (D-NJ) and Deal (R-GA) released the Promoting Innovation and Access to Life Saving Medicine Act today, a.k.a. Follow-On Biologics legislation. The legislation provides a five-year initial exclusivity for products with a unique molecular structure. The Biotechnology Industry Organization is not too happy. In the past BIO has called for a 14-year [...]

Wednesday Brain Dump: March 11, 2009

Regulatory Brain Dump… Regulating Nanotech:  The FDA is collaborating with the Houston-based Alliance for NanoHealth (ANH) and its eight member institutions to expand knowledge of how nanoparticles behave and affect biologic systems.  Results will be placed in the public domain. Regulating Natural Health Products: Health Canada launched the first phase of Online Solution, a secure [...]

GTC Biotherapeutics goes for a Regulatory Double Combo Shot

GTC Biotherapeutics, which recently saw ATryn approved, announced a collaboration agreement with AgResearch Limited, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute.  AgResearch will develop genetically modified animals capable of producing the building blocks for “biosimilar” versions of existing products that will begin coming off U.S. patent in 2014. The double combo shot:  the success of the collaboration depends on [...]

Teva Decides Not to Wait for U.S. Biosimilars Legislation

In Beni’s post earlier this week on Biosimilars, he identified two major challenges to introducing follow-on biologics into the North American market: technical proficiency, and the absence of a regulatory regime. Based on the approval of Teva’s biosimilar version of Neupogen in the EU last September, Teva has evidently cleared the first hurdle (and their [...]

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