April 29, 2022
On April 29th, ASBM submitted comments to Health Canada as part of a stakeholder consultation on its draft Handbook for healthcare professionals on biosimilar biologic drugs. One key area of focus for ASBM’s comments was mixed messaging surrounding biosimilar equivalence and switching, including language which implies, inaccurately, that Canada’s policies were consistent with those of regulators in […]
April 24, 2022
On April 14, 2022, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Canadian Minister of Health, issued a statement announcing the Government’s intention related to the coming-into-force of the Amendments to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) Regulations. The Minister’s statement advised that Health Canada will proceed with changing the new basket of comparator countries and will not proceed with […]
April 15, 2022
On April 7th, ASBM sent a letter to Minnesota lawmakers opposing a bill which could potentially increase costs for patients who receive biologic medicines. The bill, HF 1516, was introduced last session but not ultimately adopted. ASBM led a coalition of patient organizations that raised concerns with the bill last spring. From the letter: It […]
April 10, 2022
On April 5th, ASBM participated in the World Health Organization’s 74th Consultation on International Non-proprietary Names (INN) for Pharmaceutical Substances, held in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the eighteenth INN Consultation in which ASBM has participated. ASBM was represented by Executive Director Michael Reilly, Esq., and Advisory Board Chair Philip Schneider, MS, FASHP. The proceedings at the […]
April 10, 2022
On April 5th, ASBM participated in the World Health Organization’s 74th Consultation on International Non-proprietary Names (INN) for Pharmaceutical Substances, held in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the eighteenth INN Consultation in which ASBM has participated. ASBM was represented by Executive Director Michael Reilly, Esq., and Advisory Board Chair Philip Schneider, MS, FASHP. The proceedings at the […]
March 20, 2022
From March 9-11, ASBM participated in the Festival of Biologics USA 2022, held in San Diego, California. Several ASBM representatives presented on a variety of topics, and participated in several discussion panels at the three-day conference. On March 9th, ASBM Advisory Board Chair Philip Schneider gave a plenary presentation on the current biosimilars landscape, highlighting factors which […]
March 15, 2022
On March 9th, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would eliminate the requirement for a biosimilar to have the same strength as the originator product upon which it is based. H.R. 7047, the “Lowering Costs by Improving Biosimilar Uptake Act”, would amend title III of the Public Health Service, permitting the Secretary of […]
March 8, 2022
On February 18th, a study was published in the journal Current Medical Research and Opinion, which examined US Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) patients who were switched from innovator infliximab to the VHA-preferred biosimilar. The study found that those who were switched from the reference product to the biosimilar were almost 3 times more likely to stop treatment and 5 times more likely […]
February 28, 2022
ASBM has released our latest video, “Non-Medical Switching”, featuring ASBM Chairman Ralph McKibbin, MD. In the video, Dr. McKibbin shares new data from ASBM’s recent survey of 401 U.S. prescribers of biologics, as well as his own observations on the controversial practice. Among the survey findings: 69% of US physicians surveyed consider it “very important or critical” […]
February 28, 2022
ASBM has released our latest video, “Non-Medical Switching”, featuring ASBM Chairman Ralph McKibbin, MD. In the video, Dr. McKibbin shares new data from ASBM’s recent survey of 401 U.S. prescribers of biologics, as well as his own observations on the controversial practice. Among the survey findings: 69% of US physicians surveyed consider it “very important or critical” […]
