Biosimilars approval process

For similar biological medicinal products, the so-called biosimilars, clinical trials are required rather than just the bioequivalence studies required to support the registration of a generic small molecule drug product. The EU Directive 2001/83/EC, as amended, stated that where a biological medicinal product which is similar to a reference biological product, does not meet the conditions in the definition of generic medicinal products the results of appropriate pre-clinical tests or clinical trials relating to these conditions must be provided. The challenge is to determine the exact nature of the non-clinical and clinical programme required to gain regulatory approval. The applicant is encouraged to provide a detailed description of the strategy used to demonstrate the biosimilar and the reference product have similar profiles in terms of quality, safety and efficacy. The extent to which comparability can be proven will have quite an impact on how many non-clinical and clinical studies the biosimilar applicant will be required to conduct. The dossier submitted by the applicant to the EMEA should cover all aspects of the comparability assessment and must include data on possible unwanted immune reactions to the therapeutic protein. Post-marketing pharmacovigilance plans are also expected to be included in the biosimilar dossier.