‘Non-Medical Switching’ Claim Riles Europe’s Biosimilars Industry

While the biosimilars industry has welcomed individual pockets of progress around regulatory streamlining, it is essential that approaches from global authorities move forward together if they are to have a meaningful impact on biosimilar development. At Medicines for Europe’s annual biosimilars conference, regulators from around the world talked about how their thinking is converging.

Massive layoffs and the biosimilar user fee program’s historic flirtation with the non-user fee spending requirements raise concerns that the FDA could lose its ability to collect BsUFA revenue, which could mean a fine or jail time for agency staff.

The European Medicines Agency’s latest move towards a more streamlined process for biosimilar registration in Europe was the hottest topic at last week’s annual biosimilars conference held by Medicines for Europe in Amsterdam.

The development could highlight the power of competitive market forces over government price controls or suggest Medicare price negotiation is enhancing competitive market forces.