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US Must Rethink Biologic Naming Suffix, Says IGBA

 
• By Dave Wallace

In the wake of a decision by Health Canada not to implement a suffix to non-proprietary names to distinguish biosimilars from their branded counterparts, the IGBA has urged the FDA to reconsider the US approach.

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An Increasingly Isolated US Is Urged To Rethink Its Biologic Naming Approach • Source: Shutterstock

Citing a “growing global consensus” against the use of product-specific suffixes to non-proprietary names to distinguish biosimilar medicines from their brand biologic counterparts, the International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association (IGBA) has called on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to rethink its use of such a mechanism given its status as a “notable outlier”.

The call follows Health Canada’s recent decision to not add suffixes to non-proprietary names for biologics – including biosimilars – leaving the US as the only major territory to operate such a convention

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