Biosimilars/News
US Senate Finance Committee accepts biosimilars reimbursement measure
The US Senate Finance Committee rejected efforts by Republican lawmakers to delay a vote on the healthcare overhaul bill until it has been revised into legal language and analysed by budget experts. The Committee, however, agreed to an amendment that would give 6% higher reimbursement for doctors who prescribe follow-on biologics.
China to globalise its successful domestic biosimilars market
The fearsome darling of the pharmaceutical industry, China, has marketers salivating over the 20%-plus annual growth, which could position the country as the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical market by 2020. Researchers are also gushing over the local clinical research organisations and the compounds they churn out. The Chinese government proclaimed that biotechnology will be a key pillar industry, and the State Council announced a two-year US$9.2 billion (Euros 6.4 billion) technology development plan earlier this year.
US House panel adopts 12 years’ biologicals exclusivity
The powerful US House Committee on Energy and Commerce (HCEC) has voted to give branded biological drugs 12 years’ market exclusivity from generic competition, but also to ban ‘pay-for-delay’ settlements.
Biosimilars to be held up 0 to 13.5 years under new US bill
A bill submitted to the US Senate proposes granting up to thirteen and half years of exclusivity to biological drugs. Under the plan, the branded products would receive at least nine years of exclusivity, plus additional time depending on potential innovations made to the drug.
Safety study for subcutaneous epoetin alfa biosimilar Binocrit/Epoetin alfa Hexal/Abseamed suspended
In June 2009, Sandoz, the generic pharmaceuticals division of Novartis, and its subsidiary Hexal, temporarily had to suspend continuation of their clinical study into the safety of subcutaneous application of the epoetin alfa follow-on product HX575 recombinant human erythropoietin alfa for patients with renal anaemia.
Current European biosimilars market may suggest US threat to biotech will be limited
Though the threat of biosimilars is a hot topic in the US biotech market, their introduction in Europe may reveal that their effects will be limited.
Dutch health insurers obtain biosimilars green light
Health insurers in The Netherlands are allowed to include biosimilars in their preference policies, the Dutch health ministry has confirmed for the first time, signalling Europe's growing acceptance of these products.
Biotech drugs need adequate patent protection
The US government could establish “a properly constructed biosimilars pathway” by providing original developers of biotech drugs with at least 12 years of intellectual property protection to allow them to recover their investments in such treatments, writes former Vermont Governor, Mr Howard Dean, in his commentary. Two bills for follow-on biologics introduced in the House and Senate "include a balanced approach that protects patient safety and encourages research that helps bring new, more advanced treatments – and even cures – to patients around the world," Mr Dean writes.
Europe is biosimilar testing ground, but US will be key market
As the Federal Trade Commission weighs into the biosimilars debate in the US and the Obama administration considers seven years of market exclusivity enough for brand biologicals, new research by independent market analyst Datamonitor predicts that the success of the emerging biosimilars industry hinges on access to this market. With Japan receiving approval for its first biosimilar and the US moving ever closer to the establishment of an approval pathway, the biosimilars market is set for imminent expansion.
Sandoz receives approval for first-ever Japanese biosimilar
Sandoz has received marketing authorisation for the first ever Japanese biosimilar, recombinant human growth hormone somatropin. The precedent-setting decision further reinforces Sandoz's global leadership position in the rapidly-emerging market for biosimilars, or follow-on versions of existing state-of-the-art biopharmaceuticals.
