On June 19, 2017, the European Commission (EC) approved Sandoz’s Rixathon® (rituximab), a biosimilar to Roche/Genentech’s Rituxan®/Mabthera®.  The approval follows the positive recommendation by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) issued two months ago.

Rituximab is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (follicular lymphoma and diffuse large

We previously reported that after a public meeting held on May 25, 2017, the FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended Pfizer’s proposed biosimilar to Amgen’s Epogen®/Procrit® for approval across all indications.  The ODAC committee voted 14-1 in favor of approval of Pfizer’s application.

Surprisingly, however, the FDA did not approve the application as expected. 

On June 22, 2017, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (“CHMP”) of the European Medicine’s Agency (“EMA”) recommended Samsung Bioepis’ Imraldi® (SB-5, adalimumab), a biosimilar to AbbVie’s Humira®, for approval.  The CHMP’s recommendation will be referred to the European Commission for final marketing authorization.

Adalimumab is a TNF (tumor necrosis factor) inhibitor

Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics announced that its Medical Marketing Application (“MMA”) for FKB327, a biosimilar to AbbVie’s Humira® (adalimumab), has been accepted for review by the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”).  Adalimumab is a TNF (tumor necrosis factor) inhibitor that binds to TNF-alpha (TNF-α), preventing it from activating TNF receptors, which cause the inflammatory reactions associated

The FDA announced yesterday that the Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (“ODAC”) has scheduled a public meeting to review ABP 215, Amgen’s proposed biosimilar to Genentech’s Avastin (bevacizumab), on July 13, 2017.  According to the announcement, the proposed indications and uses for ABP 215 include:

  1. first- or second-line treatment of patients with metastatic carcinoma of the

On May 25, 2017, Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”) filed two new petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 6,407,213 (“the ’213 patent”).  The ‘213 patent, entitled “Method for Making Humanized Antibodies,” issued on June 18, 2002.  Although the IPR petitions do not identify a particular biologic, Genentech has publicly stated that the technology

Pfizer announced last week that the FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended its proposed biosimilar to Amgen’s Epogen®/Procrit® for approval across all indications after a public meeting held on May 25, 2017.  The meeting materials are available from the FDA’s website here.

The history of this application is interesting.  The original biologics application

Last week, Celltrion, Inc. (“Celltrion”) filed two new petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 6,407,213 (“the ’213 patent”) related to Genentech’s Herceptin® (trastuzumab).  Celltrion has announced that it plans to submit an application for a trastuzumab biosimilar product to the FDA this year (possibly as early as next month), as reported

Over the last two weeks, Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”) has filed petitions for inter partes review (“IPR”) of three additional patents related to Biogen and Genentech’s Rituxan® (rituximab) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”).  The proceedings are: IPR2017-01166, filed on April 21, 2017, regarding U.S. Patent No. 8,329,172 (“the ’172 patent”); IPR2017-1167, filed on

Celltrion announced last week that it has submitted an application for approval of Herzuma, its proposed trastuzumab biosimilar (CT-P6), in Japan.  Trastuzumab is a monoclonal antibody indicated for the treatment of patients with metastactic breast cancer whose tumors overexpress the HER2 protein and who have received one or more chemotherapy regimens.  Celltrion’s Herzuma (trastuzumab) is