Tag: Merck

Merck to Spin Off Company That Will Include Its Biosimilar Marketing in 2021

On February 5, Merck announced that it will create a new spinoff that will include its biosimilar business with Samsung Bioepis as well as its legacy pharmaceuticals (e.g., Zetia®, Vytorin®, and other widely diversified brands). In its press release, Merck emphasized that the as-yet unnamed new company will also have a strong focus on women’s health.

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier

Merck has an agreement with Samsung Bioepis to market the latter’s infliximab biosimilar Renflexis®, trastuzumab biosimilar Ontruzant®, and its etanercept biosimilar Brenzys®, which is available outside the US only.

This new firm will take the lessons learned from its commercialization experience with Samsung Bioepis to help it expand: The Merck spinoff will “pursue opportunities to partner with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging [the new company’s] scale and presence in fast-growing international markets.” Merck expects that 75% of the revenues of the spinoff will come from the global markets.

The three Merck biosimilars reached global sales of $300 million, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Interestingly, Merck earned $411 million in 2019 from sales of Remicade in the EU (which it markets as part of an agreement with Johnson & Johnson). This is down from $582 million for the previous year. Our call to Merck regarding whether Remicade marketing will be under the new entity was not immediately returned.

According to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth C. Frazier, this move will allow the parent company to focus its “key pillars of oncology, vaccines, hospital. and animal health,” including its highly profitable Keytruda® cancer brand and innovative research and development. Once the new organization is created in the first half of 2021, it will be based in New Jersey.

“Over the past several years, we have purposefully shifted the focus of our efforts and resources to our best opportunities for growth.” Mr. Frazier continued, “Given the opportunities now in front of us, we believe we can benefit from even greater focus.”

Samsung Bioepis Scores FDA Approval of Ontruzant, the Third Biosimilar Trastuzumab

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on January 18, 2019 the approval of a new biosimilar version of trastuzumab. Produced by Samsung Bioepis, this agent was dubbed Ontruzant (trastuzumab-dttb).

This is the third trastuzumab biosimilar approved by the FDA, following those by Mylan and Biocon in December 2017 (Ogivri®) and Teva and Celltrion last month (Herzuma®). As with biosimilars other than Herzuma and the reference biologic Herceptin®, this agent is approved for use in the treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer and the treatment of HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. Herzuma is not approved for the latter indication.

As with Renflexis®, Samsung Bioepis’ first FDA-approved biosimilar, Merck will market the product in the US when launched. No launch date has yet been revealed.

Mylan and Biocon had signed a licensing agreement with Roche, the manufacturer of Herceptin, which ended their patent fight, but which delayed launch. Teva and Celltrion have not yet disclosed whether a similar deal has been reached with Roche. Pfizer has an investigational trastuzumab biosimilar, and they too have signed a licensing agreement with Roche.

Celltrion’s Rituximab Biosimilar Earns Positive Review

The information package released by reviewers for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicates that a positive recommendation for Celltrion’s rituximab biosimilar is likely at the Advisory Committee meeting on October 10.

The members of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will review the data and hear public comments before voting to recommend that the FDA ultimately approve or reject CT-P10 for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Celltrion did not perform clinical trials for rituximab’s autoimmune indications. However, if the FDA approves CT-P10, it may extrapolate the approval to other indications as well.

The orirituximab biosimilarginal 351(k) application by Celltrion in April 2017 resulted in a complete response letter from the FDA. The rejection for this rituximab biosimilar cited multiple deficiencies, including “clinical, product quality, and facility” problems, as well as clinical study issues from the original submission.

According to the FDA reviewers, “In considering the totality of the evidence, the data submitted by [Celltrion] show that CT-P10 is highly similar to US-licensed Rituxan®, notwithstanding minor differences in clinically inactive compounds, and support a demonstration that there are no clinically meaningful differences between CT-P10 and US-licensed Rituxan in terms of safety, purity, and potency of the product.”

BR&R will cover the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee meeting and provide updates on its decision. If this rituximab biosimilar is eventually approved by the FDA, Teva would market the product in North America, based on a previous partnership agreement.

In other biosimilar news…Merck has inked an exclusive contract to supply its biosimilar infliximab (Renflexis®) with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. According to a report from Pharmaphorum, it will be the only infliximab biosimilar on the VA’s national formulary.

Up to 5 Biosimilar Horses in the Race for Adalimumab in Europe: Heading for the Starting Gate

A long-sought dream in the United States will be a welcome reality in Europe this October: a stampede for Abbvie’s marketshare with adalimumab biosimilars and the savings that go with it.

Four or possibly five manufacturers will be lined up in the starting gate. Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics and its marketing partner Mylan have not yet received approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), but they do have a positive opinion from the Committee on Human Medicinal Products. They expect to hear a final decision from the EMA by October and hope to market it that same month, joining the other adalimumab biosimilar drugmakers.

Those who already have approval to race include:

Manufacturer/Marketing  Partner

Molecule Designation

Brand Name
Samsung Bioepis/Merck
SB5
Imraldi
Boehringer Ingelheim
BI 695501
Cyltezo
Amgen
ABP 501
Amgevita
Sandoz
GP2017
Hyrimoz
Adapted from: http://www.gabionline.net/Biosimilars/General/Biosimilars-of-adalimumab.

Several other manufacturers are also in the running, but will be late entries. They have completed phase III studies but their biosimilar adalimumab applications are not yet filed: Coherus, Pfizer, Fresenius, and Momenta.

adalimumab biosimilarsOn October 16, Abbvie’s Humira® patent expires and the starting gate should open. We’ve not seen anything similar in the US biosimilar market. Even when Abbvie’s patents expire in 2022 and agreements go into effect, this will be more of a staggered start, with Amgen having first crack at the market in January 2023 followed by Samsung Bioepis in June of that year. That is, unless another biosimilar manufacturer refuses to sign a licensing agreement with Abbvie and launches at risk earlier.

In any case, the savings seen in the EU should be immediate and if competition is not hindered, adalimumab biosimilar prices will be slashed. It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out, with one of the world’s biologic sales leaders.

It will certainly leave American payers dreaming about what could be, but will not be, for several years at least.

Infliximab Biosimilars Savings Could Exceed $400 Million Dollars Annually

Everyone with an opinion believes that biosimilar drug use will save the health system considerable money. Calculations for biosimilar savings have been hampered by several factors. For example, previous high estimates have not been based on real-life scenarios. Only 3 biosimilars have been launched and utilized in the US; so little experience has been gained on which to base calculations.

Yet, isolating the savings associated with a single approved biosimilar does put their potential into perspective. It also demonstrates the promise of cumulative biosimilar savings with their launch and uptake. Based on current infliximab average sales prices (ASPs), wBiosimilar Savingshich considers discounts and rebates, one organization believes that a 50% marketshare for biosimilar infliximab could result in well over $400 million in annual savings system wide.

The analysis, conducted by Wayne H. Winegarden, PhD, Senior Fellow in Business and Economics, Pacific Research Institute, accrued the lion’s share of the annual savings to employer-sponsored health plans ($262 million to $315 million, compared with no sales of infliximab biosimilars). Medicare accounted for up to $150 million savings annually.

Dr. Winegarden tested several scenarios. The calculation considered the cost of the infliximab regimen based its various indications. He calculated biosimilar savings using different add-on percentages to ASP (including the current ASP + 4.3% payment and up to ASP + 20%), as well as different marketshares of the biosimilars (from 10% to 90%).

The current marketshare of the two available infliximab biosimilars—Inflectra® and Renflexis®—is below 5%, based on data from the first quarter of this year. This is partly because of Janssen’s tactics in matching the net costs of biosimilars with additional rebates on Remicade. This raises two important points: Dr. Winegarden’s analysis reveals savings accruing to the health care system (not necessarily to the payer). Also, the very existence of infliximab biosimilars has resulted in significant net savings compared with the price increases seen prior to their introduction.

It is a bit more difficult to pinpoint the system savings resulting from the use of the first biosimilar approved in the US, filgrastim-sndz (Zarxio®). The other branded product, tbo-filgrastim (Granix®), was launched a couple of years earlier and gained its own marketshare from the reference brand Neupogen®. No doubt, Zarxio contributed to some level of cost savings. In other words, the infliximab example is an easier calculation with a cleaner result.

With eight biosimilars for six reference products awaiting their turn to hit the market, and drugs like adalimumab and etanercept among them, it is easy to see how biosimilars savings can easily exceed $10 billion. Just not yet.

Plans Use Step Therapy to Encourage Utilization of Remicade Over Biosimilars

Health plans and insurers are not yet turning to biosimilar infliximab as a preferred therapy, according to Gillian Woollett, DPhil, MA, of Avalere. Her new report surveyed publicly available policy about health plans across the nation. The principal finding was that step therapy was commonly used  to encourage use of the originator product.

In fact, just one health plan (representing 1% of the 172 million lives covered in this study) supported the use of either Inflectra® or Renflexis® over the reference product Remicade® through step therapy. One plan (2% of the covered lives) allowed the use of either the originator product or Inflectra as a first step.

Gillian Woollett of Avalere on step therapy and biosimilars
Gillian Woollett

Four of the 18 plans with publicly available information did not utilize step-therapy rules for any forms of infliximab. However, “10 of the 18 plans (55% of plans, 52% of covered lives) require the use of [Remicade] first, alone or in combination with another DMARD,” stated Dr. Woollett in the report. A total of 81% of the covered lives from these 18 plans were subject to step therapies limiting access to one infliximab product or the other.

On its face, this type of step policy makes a bit of sense. Step therapies are often used alone or part of prior authorization mechanisms to make sure patients try more cost-effective agents first. In rheumatoid arthritis, that may comprise use of nonbiologic drugs before proceeding to a TNF inhibitor and then to another biologic in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However, there is no proven benefit (or even logic) to offering a biosimilar infliximab after failing Remicade, or vice versa. If there was a significant clinically relevant difference in immunogenicity, this could be an issue, but this also has not been seen in practice. It makes more sense to try another anti-TNF or perhaps even move to an interleukin inhibitor—something with a different (or slightly different) mode of action.

A policy such as this can confuse the issue for patients, whose knowledge of biosimilars seems tenuous, and even providers, some of whom have little experience prescribing them, particularly because of payers’ Remicade-first policies.

The Avalere report provides some support for how payers are arresting utilization of biosimilar infliximab in favor of the originator infliximab product.

Dr. Woollett paints a very different picture for subcutaneously administered filgrastim products. Forty-nine percent of the covered lives (five large plans) had policies favoring Zarxio®, whereas 27% of covered lives were encouraged to use Neupogen® first.  For these 18 plans, five (28% of plans, 49% of covered lives) demonstrate a preference for the biosimilar, filgrastim-sndz. Five (28% of plans, 27% of covered lives) demonstrate a preference for the reference filgrastim. Eight plans (44% of plans, 24% of covered lives) do not indicate a preference through formulary design. A further 24% were not subject to any preference.

Pfizer US Biosimilar Revenues Growing Slowly, Better News Internationally

According to an article posted on the Market Realist website, Pfizer’s US and global biosimilars revenues are growing, but its sales of Inflectra® remainPfizer Headquarters stunted.

In the fourth-quarter of 2017, the New York–based company posted US biosimilar revenues of $44 million—all attributable to its infliximab biosimilar. The product was launched in Q4 2016 (and gained only $4 million in revenues), but the revenue was reported to be somewhat higher than in Q3 2017. Total 2017 Inflectra revenue was $118 million.

Internationally, where Pfizer not only markets Inflectra, but its Retacrit® form of epoetin alpha and its Nivestim® brand of filgrastim, biosimilars contributed $531 million to the bottom line in 2017, an increase of 37% compared to the previous year.

There is little doubt that Pfizer’s US Inflectra revenues will continue to increase, but competition from Samsung/Merck’s Renflexis® and Janssen Biotech’s continuing heavy rebates on Remicade® should prove challenging to Pfizer. Merck has not yet reported its Q3 or Q4 sales of Renflexis, which was only launched in July 2017.

Pfizer’s second US biosimilar approval was also for an infliximab biosimilar (a legacy product from its Hospira acquisition). This agent, infliximab-qbtx, dubbed Ixifi™, was approved in December 2017 and will apparently not be launched in the US.

 

Its next big splash into the US biosimilars market may not occur in 2018. Its rituximab biosimilar (PF-05280586) met its primary outcomes measures in a phase 3 trial, as announced in January, but no target date has been yet reported for its 351(k) application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, this product may face stiff competition from Celltrion and Sandoz for their rituximab biosimilars currently being reviewed by the FDA. Celltrion is partnered with Mylan (not Pfizer) in the commercialization of its rituximab biosimilar.

Pfizer’s At-Risk Launch of Inflectra Pays Off (at Least a Bit)

The US Court of Appeals handed Pfizer a big victory in its gamble to bring its biosimilar version of Remicade® to the market before the completion of patent litigation. On January 23, the Appeals Court ruled that Johnson & Johnson’s ‘471 patent in the case was declared invalid, clearing the way for sales of Inflectra® (infliximab-dyyb). Had Pfizer lost the suit, J&J could have sought Inflectra’s (and Samsung/Merck’s Renflexis®’s) revenues in addition to other damage claims.

Remicade’s ‘471 patent expiration was September 2018, but the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier ruling contended that the antibodies at the center of this patent were already included in patents that had previously expired.

Remicade is manufactured and sold by J&J’s subsidiary, Janssen Biotech.

In a widely publicized case, Pfizer sued J&J in September 2017 for anticompetitive practices, which it believes held down the sales of Inflectra to a spare $74 million for the first three quarters of last year. Although J&J is seeking to appeal the decision, with the patent expiration date looming, as well as limited sales of Inflectra, this would seem to be of relatively little benefit.

In any case, J&J is wary of losing marketshare and revenues on Remicade. According to Bloomberg News, Janssen Biotech saw fourth-quarter revenues from the biologic drop almost 10%, to $1.47 billion. Increasing competition from other biologics for similar indications and other biosimilar versions of infliximab worldwide have contributed to reduced sales.

A Pre-Holiday Gift for Pfizer—a Second Infliximab Biosimilar Approval. Now What?

On December 14, Pfizer got an early Christmas present, the approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the second infliximab biosimilar in which it has a stake. First came Inflectra® in 2016, and here comes Ixifi™ (infliximab-qbtx). Unlike Inflectra, which Pfizer markets for Celltrion, Ixifi is Pfizer’s alone—Web image for headera product that was under development at the time of the acquisition.

This of course puts Pfizer in an interesting position. Ixifi would be the third infliximab biosimilar to reach the market, after Inflectra and Samsung/Merck’s Renflexis™. True, Inflectra has limited marketshare in the US, and competition from more heavily discounted Renflexis could compound the situation.

It seems that Ixifi is not intended to reach the US market at all, and may be marketed in other countries where the Celltrion agreement does not hold sway. However, this begs the question: Why did Pfizer decide to go apply for a 351(k) application for FDA approval? That is unclear at this time. Perhaps they will use this biosimilar as insurance if Inflectra does not perform as promised. On the other hand, Pfizer could license it to another manufacturer and collect additional royalties from its sales in the US and overseas.

For those of you who guessed the last choice, congratulations! Under a deal signed in early 2016, Sandoz obtained the rights to market this agent in the European Economic Area. This would enable Pfizer to earn cash rewards and other prizes from two biologics in the same biosimilar category.

A Health System Biosimilar Survey’s Implications

When asked about potential cost savings with the infliximab biosimilar, nearly one-quarter of health system respondents did not believe that it represented a cost savings opportunity for their organization, according to a newly published survey in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy.

Conducted by Premier, Inc., a group purchasing organization, 57 US health systems responded to its questionnaire in April and May 2017 (before the launch of Merck/Samsung Bioepis’ Renflexis® biosimilar). All of the health systems currently used infliximab at their facilities.

The greatest barrier to adoption cited by the health systems was the reimbursement from payers (28%), with actual cost of the biosimilar being a lesser concern (10%). According to the survey, about one-third of the respondents had had communications by that time with payers regarding the latter’s approach to biosimilar coverage.

Interestingly, 62% of those systems represented by the survey respondents had not reviewed Pfizer’s Inflectra® in their Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committees. In large part, thiBR&R Logo Transparent1.5-21-2017s was a continuation of a “wait-and-see” approach, particularly in view of the relatively small discounts offered by Pfizer. Others responded that they were awaiting Merck’s entry into the marketplace, to review both biosimilars at the same time.

“For sites of care that approved formulary addition of the infliximab biosimilar, implementation strategies ranged from full product conversion to ‘new patients’ only,” wrote the author, Sonia T. Oskouei, PharmD, Director of Pharmacy Program Development-Biosimilars at Premier. “Some sites added it to their formularies as a preferred product but only when payer coverage supported it.”

Seventy-six percent of respondents perceived that there was a cost savings opportunity for biosimilars compared with the reference product. What are the expectations of the remaining health system executives? If they don’t believe biosimilars do not save the system money, why not?