When Pfizer announced that it received a complete response letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the wait for an available biosimilar to Herceptin® just got longer. According to the manufacturer, the FDA specified that the reasons for the rejection of PF-05280014 were not related to clinical questions. The rejection was not associated with manufacturing plant problems, which have tripped up biosimilar manufacturers, including Pfizer, in the past. Instead, the FDA cited the need for additional data related to “technical issues.”
The next potential team up at bat for a trastuzumab biosimilar approval is Amgen and Allergan. A decision on their biosimilar should be rendered before the end of the second quarter. To date, only Mylan/Biocon have obtained approval on this oncologic product (Ogivri™). However, the launch has been delayed by their signing an agreement with Roche, the maker of the reference product. Teva/Celltrion had received a rejection from FDA relating to manufacturing issues in early April, setting back their own marketing timetable.
Even if Pfizer did receive approval at this time, Roche had sued the company in November 2017 for patent infringement. Pfizer had elected to launch at risk with Inflectra®, despite looming legal battles with Janssen over Remicade®, so an immediate launch of their trastuzumab biosimilar could not be ruled out.
Like the situation with pegfilgrastim, gaining competition for trastuzumab is proving frustrating for payers. Obviously, it will occur, but the latest news does not alleviate payers concerns over price increases in the oncology area.
