Forget location. It’s timing, timing, timing when it comes to escaping the first round of U.S. Medicare price negotiations due to pending biosimilar competition. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), only single-source drugs that have been approved for a specific length of time are subject to the forced negotiations, which focus on drugs with the biggest Medicare spend, not necessarily the highest price tag. Since the IRA gives biologics a 12-year safe harbor from negotiations, which aligns with the biologic exclusivity provided by the Biologic Price Competition and Innovation Act, it creates a scenario in which the innovator could be facing negotiations just as its first biosimilar competition prepares to launch. That creates a lot of what-ifs.
While the U.S. FDA didn’t ask for more study data or have safety or efficacy concerns, it does want modifications to Alexion, Astrazeneca Rare Disease’s sBLA for Ultomiris (ravulizumab-cwvz) to treat adults with the rare central nervous system disease neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder. The agency has issued a complete response letter (CRL) requesting changes to Ultomiris’ Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to better validate patients’ meningococcal vaccination status or prophylactic administration of antibiotics before being treated.
Now that the U.S. FDA has nearly 15 years of experience with developing and implementing a biosimilar pathway, it’s time for that regulatory path to catch up with the science, according to experts that have been involved in biosimilar development even before Congress passed the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act that created the framework for the U.S. biosimilar market.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Arcturus, Aspargo, Astrazeneca, CSL, Inmune, Italfarmaco, Krystal, Nykode, Uniqure, Viatris, Wave, X4.
The queue of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) prescription drug price negotiations continues to grow. Novartis AG is the latest drug company, but probably not the last, to join the line. It filed its challenge in federal court in New Jersey Sept. 1, a few days after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services included the company’s heart failure drug, Entresto (sacubitril and valsartan), on its list of the 10 drugs subject to the first round of IRA negotiations.
The U.S. FTC’s antitrust challenge to Amgen Inc.’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc has been resolved. Amgen agreed to do what it said it would do all along: not bundle pharmacy benefit manager rebates on high volume blockbuster drugs Tepezza and Krystexxa.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Alcresta, Astrazeneca, Biontech, Daiichi Sankyo, Mallinckrodt, Pfizer.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abeona, Alzamend, Asieris, Inflarx, Menarini, Northwest, Nrx, Oncomatryx, Outlook, Zealand.
In response to the Biden administration announcing on Aug. 29 the first 10 medications up for price negotiations with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, U.S. Senate and House Republicans are firing back, calling the imposed “price-controls set by Washington bureaucrats” part of a scheme that “will lead to higher prices for new drugs coming to market, stifle the development of new cures and destroy jobs,” ultimately driving up costs for seniors.
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