Off-patent industry association Medicines for Europe is one of several European pharmaceutical associations to have lent their backing to the latest European Commission strategic approach to pharmaceuticals in the environment.

Association for Accessible Medicines' Davis tries to counter concerns that the long-stalled measure would incentivize lawsuits against brand companies; witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing on drug pricing legislation also testified that the BLOCKING Act would create an overly broad and complicated framework for triggering 180-day exclusivity.

Pfizer’s approval for trastuzumab in the US marks the fourth FDA nod for a biosimilar rival to Genentech’s Herceptin original. However, while two of those biosimilar sponsors continue to be engaged in patent litigation with the originator, Pfizer and Mylan have both struck settlement deals.

Venipharm has received approval for its enoxaparin through the European decentralized procedure. The product was developed in collaboration with China’s Nanjing King-Friend Biochemical Pharmaceutical.

In the face of calls from the biosimilars industry to rethink its position on biological naming conventions as being out of step with other major territories, the FDA has issued fresh guidance that reinforces its commitment to using four-letter suffixes for both biosimilars and new brand biologics, as well as confirming that the names of any biosimilars designated as ‘interchangeable’ will bear a suffix. At the same time, the agency has rowed back on previous proposals to retroactively add a suffix to already-licensed biologics.