Here’s the headline -- The GPhA now acknowledges the importance of differential nomenclature for biosimilars.
And now here’s the spin
The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), out-flanked, out-thought, out of its league, and on the wrong side of history, has proposed a bizarre naming scheme for biosimilars – and shared it with the FDA last January. The agency agreed to the meeting on the condition that it was a ‘listening session’, meaning that the FDA would be unable to answer questions or expand on any issues beyond what is in the public domain and what they have stated in the published draft guidance documents.
Wink and a nod.
Officially, the GPhA requested the meeting to discuss the dialogue held at a recent World Health Organization (WHO) meeting regarding non-proprietary names of biosimilars and the possible addition of identifiers (specifically a three-letter random alphanumeric suffix) to the INNs of originator biologicals in order to name biosimilars.
The GPhA’s brainstorm is, rather than the WHO concept (also supported by the US The Pharmacopeia), attaching the company name as a suffix to the INN without changing the INN as a way to distinguish between products. They also proposed that this then also apply to the originator product, e.g. filgrastim Amgen.
Really? What happens when a biosimilar manufacturer merges with another firm or sells a product line to another company? And since when are drugs named “for a company.” That’s why FDA regulations stress names that are designed to avoid confusion. Using a “company suffix” makes things more confusing, not less. (For example, what happens when one company has more than one drug is any given therapeutic category?)
The GPhA stated that it does not disagree with ‘distinguishability’, but believes that this can be done without changing the INN.
That’s a start.
