Biosimilars Council joins call to Department of Health and FDA on biosimilars naming system

The Biosimilars Council, a division of the USA's Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) has joined the call to maintain the currently accepted international nonproprietary naming system.

It has urged the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to avoid any departure from the system in a letter sent to both bodies today. The Biosimilars Council has joined a group of health care stakeholders to raise shared concerns that adopting distinguishable names for biosimilars and biologics would create barriers to patient access to more affordable medicines.

Ralph Neas, president and chief executive of the GPhA, said: “Organizations representing the nation’s pharmacies, pharmacists, insurers, state employee retirement systems, taxpayers, and others agree that biologics and biosimilars should share the same name in order to ensure patient safety and avoid confusion among providers and dispensers.”