Friday, March 30, 2012

Upcoming DIA Webinars: FDA draft guidance on Biosimilars

On February 9, US FDA released three draft guidances to address biosimilar biological drug products. These guidances are intended to assist industry to reduce the burden of development of pharmaceuticals that are biosimilar to approved biological products.

PART 1:  #12215

This initial webinar will introduce biosimilars and describe the content of the Questions & Answers and present the components of the Scientific Concepts document. The presenters will suggest approaches that might be useful in satisfying the respective areas of the guidance: legal/regulatory, preclinical and clinical components of a biosimilar program. Focus will be on: explaining the actual document, considering ways that the guidance may be satisfied and possible alternatives to the suggested approach.

Links to the Biosimilar Draft Guidances that Part 1 will address:
 


PART 2: #12216

This webinar will focus on Quality Considerations in Demonstrating Biosimilarity to a Reference Protein Product. The guidance lists principles and factors that should be considered and these will be discussed. Some in vitro comparisons that will be useful in demonstrating similarity between a biosimilar product and its approved reference will be discussed in the context of the guidance.
Link to the Biosimilar Draft Guidance that Part 2 will address:


2 comments:

  1. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bio-testifies-on-importance-of-timely-passage-of-bsufa-and-pdufa-2012-03-29

    BIO Testifies on Importance of Timely Passage of BsUFA and PDUFA
    Offers support for sufficient appropriations for FDA

    WASHINGTON, Mar 29, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sara Radcliffe, Executive Vice President of Health at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), testified today on biosimilar user fees (BsUFA) and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a hearing entitled, “FDA User Fee Agreements: Strengthening FDA and the Medical Products Industry for the Benefit of Patients.”

    In her testimony, Radcliffe expressed support for the establishment of a biosimilars user fee program as part of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) implementation of a well-constructed, science-based pathway for the approval of biosimilar products that protects patient safety and preserves incentives for innovative new therapies.

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  2. http://www.insidecounsel.com/2012/03/27/fda-releases-biosimilars-draft-guidances

    From the April 2012 issue of InsideCounsel Magazine • Subscribe!

    FDA releases biosimilars draft guidances

    Documents are first step in expedited pathway for generic biotech drugs

    By Melissa Maleske
    March 27, 2012 • Reprints

    In the small-molecule drug area, which covers chemical drugs, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has provided generic drug makers with an expedited approval process—and incentives for companies to take advantage of them—since the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act. The pathway changed the market, creating a generic drug industry that in 2011 accounted for more than 70 percent of all prescriptions in the U.S., according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical intelligence company.

    Hatch-Waxman didn’t cover the $30 billion biological products market, however. Biologics are drugs and treatments that are far more complex than small-molecule drugs. They require much more complicated manufacturing processes and often are derived from living cells or tissues. The most widely used biologics treat diabetes, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. When a drug has no clinically meaningful difference from a reference product, it is biosimilar.

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