The Top 5 Biosimilar Articles for the Week of August 9

Hi, I’m Skylar Jeremias for The Center for Biosimilars®, your resource for clinical, regulatory, business, and policy news in the rapidly changing world of biosimilars.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of August 9, 2021.

Number 5: A supply chain shortage of Avastin (bevacizumab) is prompting policies for use of bevacizumab biosimilars instead for ophthalmologic conditions, which the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) said could lead to problems.

Number 4: After a delay caused by a manufacturing shift, Formycon and Bioeq are back on track with their ranibizumab biologics license application (BLA), and their partner Coherus BioSciences is aligned for US commercialization.

Number 3: "[Payers] are incorrectly assuming that biosimilars of bevacizumab are going to behave the same as Avastin in the eye, and they’re making that assumption with absolutely no data," contended George Williams, MD, of the AAO in an interview with The Center for Biosimilars®.

Number 2: Amgen reported a strong increase in biosimilar sales for the year but said competition is forcing down prices and affecting revenues for its originator products, too.

Number 1: The road to production of biosimilar messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines could be very swift compared with the experience for other biologics. With fewer intellectual property restrictions, small manufacturers could step right in, according to Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD.

To read all of these articles and more, visit centerforbiosimilars.com.