Tag: Zirabev

Pfizer Announces Launch Dates for Rituximab and Trastuzumab Biosimilars

At an earnings call this week, Pfizer’s CEO highlighted the impending launches of Ruxience® and Trazimera®, not long after the previously announced launch of Zirabev® (bevacizumab) at the end of this year.

The New York–based pharmaceutical manufacturer plans to begin marketing Ruxience in January 2020, and Trazimera February 15, 2020. This would make Pfizer first to market with a Rituxan® competitor. Pfizer follows Amgen to market with Trazimera, as Kanjinti® launched in July this year.

On the call, Albert Bourla, PhD, indicated that the company’s infliximab biosimilar (Inflectra®) had grown 8% for the third quarter of 2019 over the same quarter in 2018 (to $77 million). Inflectra’s marketshare in the US still remains below 10%, according to IQVIA.

Multiple Sources Announce Pfizer’s Intended Launch of Bevacizumab Biosimilar December 31, 2019

After coming to a settlement agreement (which may have been prodded by Amgen’s launch of Mvasi® in July), Pfizer can launch Zirabev® at the end of this year.

First reported by Aiden Fry at The Pink Sheet and confirmed by Kelly Davio at the Center for Biosimilars, the settlement between Genentech and Pfizer was signed September 19. It clears all remaining patent suits filed by Genentech (and its parent Roche), and if it follows the standard terms of previous agreements, pays a license to the maker of the reference product (Avastin®).

Amgen decided to launch Mvasi at-risk, gaining the advantage of being the first bevacizumab biosimilar available for prescription. The legal case brought by Genentech against Amgen hinges less on patent infringement but more on whether 6-month notice of launch was provided (or needed). The next step in this case is reportedly a trial sometime in 2020.

At least five other bevacizumab biosimilars are actively being investigated, but none of these are likely to be approved in 2020 (none have filed 351[k] applications to date).

Introducing the 21st FDA Approval: Pfizer’s Zirabev, a Biosimilar of Avastin

On June 28, 2019, Pfizer announced that it had received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Zirabev™ (bevacizumab-bvzr), a biosimilar version of Roche’s Avastin®.

Pfizer approval of Zirabev

Based on the evidence provided by Pfizer, including its phase 3 trial comparing it to the EU-licensed version of Avastin, the FDA approved Zirabev for five cancer indications, including:

  • Advanced, metastatic, or recurrent nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer
  • Metastatic colorectal cancer
  • Recurrent glioblastoma
  • Metastatic renal cell carcinoma
  • Metastatic cervical cancer

This approval does not include ovarian cancer, which is an additional indication for Avastin. Belonging to a class of biologics called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors, these agents work by preventing new development of a tumor’s blood vessels, helping to choke off growth.

Zirabev’s approval marks the 21st FDA approved biosimilar agent and the second approval for a bevacizumab biosimilar. Mvasi®, to be manufactured by the partnership of Amgen and Allergan, obtained approval in September 2017. However, this product is not yet marketed.

At a recent annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, a specialty drug pipeline expert expressed hope that Mvasi would be launched in July of this year. Its manufacturer has been embroiled in patent litigation with Roche, but the key patents are expected to expire in the immediate future.

Pfizer has not announced a launch date for Zirabev. Yet, it could be the second cancer-treating biosimilar category to enter competition (with Herceptin biosimilars) very shortly.