The FDA has decided to postpone the March 17th meeting of the Arthritis Advisory Committee. The adcomm was supposed to discuss Celltrion’s infliximab biosimilar application. The Pink Sheet proclaimed this a “Biosimilar Bummer.”
What does the cancellation mean? Lots of potential tea leaves to read and no shortage of regulatory mediums. Bottom line – not a good thing for Celltrion. As to why, one thing to consider is the recent revelation that Hospira’s EMA-approved infliximab biosimilar (Inflectra) has shown some significant clinical differences from innovator and reference product Remicade.
For more on this issue see, “Interchangeability: When Irish Eyes Aren’t Smiling.”
A bummer for Celltrion to be sure, but the lesson to be learned is that the filgrastim adcomm, viewed by many as a FDA love-fest should not be viewed as a broader predictive regulatory response to every biosimilar application. Many saw it as such because they wanted it to be true.
(Infliximib is considerably more difficult to characterize than filgrastim – and characterization data was very important at the filgrastim adcomm.)
Bummer? Not if you understand that the decision tree for biosimilars is quite different from the Hatch-Waxman pathway. And that for the foreseeable future, each biosimilar application is going to be an important learning experience for FDA reviewers and senior division staff.
Repeat after me – there are no such things as generic biologics.
But it’s human nature to believe what you want to be true. No doubt those who are disappointed out will “blame the FDA.” A “bummer” is in the eyes of the beholder.
As Oscar Wilde said, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
On a related note, yesterday I was honored to share my thoughts on the issue of biosimilar naming at the World Congress on Biosimilars Market Access. An important part of the discussion focused on the fact that biosimilar approvals are based on similarity – but in the real world success will be measured by patient outcomes. Real world data capture will be crucial to understanding the true clinical impact of biosimilars and for 21st century pharmacovigilance – which is why differential nomenclature is so important
Focusing on issues such as price and market share are important. But minus a concentrated strategy to measure patient outcomes and address pharmacovigilance issues as they arise -- it’s putting profits before patients.
And that’s not the spirit of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act.
