Dr. Rugo Discusses Advancements With Biosimilars

Hope Rugo, MD, professor of medicine, director of the Breast Oncology Clinical Trials Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses recent advancements with biosimilars.

In December 2017, the FDA approved the trastuzumab (Herceptin) biosimilar MYL-1401O (Ogivri; trastuzumab-dkst), which is co-developed by Mylan and Biocon. This biosimilar has indications for HER2-positive patients with breast cancer or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma. MYL-1401O joined ABP-215 (bevacizumab-awwb; Mvasi), a biosimilar for bevacizumab (Avastin) developed by Amgen and Allergan, which was approved as the first biosimilar in the United States in September 2017.

Rugo says that biosimilars is a game-changing area. The world of generics creates competition, lowering the prices of drugs. Rugo says that once the trastuzumab biosimilar is available in the United States in 2019, more will be known about pricing.