Last week, the President signed into law a bill that gives the FTC greater authority to police agreements between biologic license holders and biosimilar applicants – so-called “pay-for-delay” settlements. The FTC has been focused on these settlements in the pharmaceutical space for years, but until now …
An interesting Citizen Petition popped up earlier this week in which pharma giant Pfizer has requested FDA guidance on sponsor communications about biosimilar products. This is not a new campaign for Pfizer, who has emphasized the need to address anticompetitive exclusionary practices, “misinformation,” and market …
Last month, Representatives John Sarbanes (D-MD) and Bill Johnson (R-OH) introduced H.R. 6478, the “Biosimilars Competition Act of 2018.” The bill would amend the Public Health Service Act (“PHS Act”) to require that certain agreements between biosimilar applicants and reference product sponsors be reported to …
Just like last year when it held a public hearing and rolled out the Generic Drug Action Plan, FDA is following its recent announcement of the Biosimilar Action Plan with a Public Hearing on competition in the biologics market entitled Facilitating Competition and Innovation in …
Though the pace of biosimilar approval has quickened substantially over the last year (with 6 approvals since this time last year alone), the biosimilar market remains sparse and slow. Unsurprisingly, FDA has noticed. This week, FDA unveiled a Biosimilars Action Plan (BAP) aimed at speeding …
By Michelle L. Butler & Eliot Markman* – On July 4, 2018, 2017 ME S 432, titled “An Act To Require Drug Manufacturers To Comply with Federal Law” (the “Act”), became law without Maine Governor Paul LePage’s signature. The Act amends 32 M.R.S.A. § 13702-A and …
We have the technology. It will definitely cost more than six million dollars, and there are questions about whether it will be better than it was before. But Dr. Sarfaraz Niazi thinks he can rebuild the biosimilar approval process to make it more efficient. In an …
Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s Mark I. Schwartz will be presenting on the Regulation of Biological Manufacturing at the Food and Drug Law Institute's (“FDLI’s”) Introduction to U.S. Biologics and Biosimilars Law and Regulation course, which is scheduled to take place from October 4-5, 2017 in Washington, …
Earlier this week, FDA published another in its series of guidance documents devoted to implementing the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”). The objective of the new guidance, entitled Statistical Approaches to Evaluate Analytical Similarity Guidance for Industry, is to assist sponsors in demonstrating …
After this year’s unanimous Supreme Court decision in Amgen v. Sandoz was remanded to the Federal Circuit (see our previous post here), that Court is now in the midst of addressing Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”) state law preemption. In August, the parties …
As we mentioned back in July, courts continue to address a wide variety of procedural questions arising from the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”). The most recent is a decision from the Federal Circuit in an interlocutory appeal pending since July 2016 in …
In the aftermath of the Sandoz v. Amgen Supreme Court decision, both sides should be happy that some of the procedural uncertainty surrounding the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”) patent dance has been resolved. But that would be too easy. Even though U.S. Supreme …
In a relatively infrequent unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court this morning (June 12th) interpreted the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”) such that the biosimilar patent dance is not mandatory. As regular readers of the FDA Law Blog know, Amgen sued Sandoz for …
The comment period on FDA’s Draft Guidance Considerations in Demonstrating Interchangeability With a Reference Product recently closed (Docket No. FDA-2017-D-0154), and it seems like everyone has something to say about the guidance. With over 50 comments submitted, some very technical in nature, FDA has some deep …
Apotex and its subsidiary Apobiologix submitted a Citizen Petition (Docket No. FDA-2017-P-2528) on April 21, 2017 asking that FDA ensure a level playing field for all biosimilar applicants referencing NEULASTA (pegfilgrastim). A common tactic in the small molecule world to introduce additional hurdles to generic …
