Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be issuing a series of posts to further analyze some of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) new Biosimilars Action Plan.
The Biosimilars Action Plan contains several important components. One of the more interesting items FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb mentioned in his remarks at the Brookings Institution webinar on Wednesday, July 18, involved modifying the intellectual property (IP) discussion with biosimilar approval for limited indications.
Originator drug makers have erected a so-called patent maze or patent wall over time to protect their IP and thus their marketing exclusivity as far into the future as possible. Patents can be filed for product composition, manufacturing techniques, new formulations, delivery systems, and indications. Often, the biologic products facing potential biosimilar competition have several indications. Adalimumab, for instance, is approved for use in nine unique conditions (I’ve included Crohn’s disease and pediatric Crohn’s as one disease state).
Dr. Gottlieb said that the FDA will be “updating guidance to provide additional clarity on how biosimilar manufacturers can carve out indications from their labels where a branded drug maker might still maintain some IP.” He continued, “And we’re going to describe how these indications can be efficiently added into a biosimilar label once that IP on the branded alternative has lapsed.”
This component was not spelled out in the Biosimilars Action Plan. Limited indications may indeed be an avenue to work with originator manufacturers to help reduce patent litigation that is barring patient access to biosimilars. One would assume that it would take some level of negotiation with the manufacturer of the originator. However, biosimilars with limited indications may be a hornets’ nest for reference manufacturers like AbbVie.
This gets back to the entire issue of extrapolation. From the outset, patients and providers recoiled at the notion of approving a biosimilar product for use in a disease state in which no clinical studies were done. The FDA has been pretty liberal in granting extrapolation to several or all indications for the 11 approved biosimilars. If FDA explored this option as a mechanism for getting biosimilars to the market sooner, it would be sending a new message. That is, the biosimilar drug may be expected to yield similar outcomes compared with the reference drug based on the totality of the evidence, but we’re unwilling for other reasons to give it our approval for those other indications.
Laws or regulations do not exit to prevent doctors from prescribing a biosimilar for a nonapproved indication. Furthermore, health plans and insurers have consistently reported in our own market research that they would not discourage use of a biosimilar for other indications for which only the originator biologic was approved. This assumes the biosimilar is sufficiently less expensive than the originator. As a result, drug makers like AbbVie may be very wary of the limited-indication approach to improve biosimilar access.
Still, some way must be found to break the logjam of litigation on IP. This is a specific target of Commissioner Gottlieb’s. He may take even more creative approaches.
