By Paul Tully --
The new phone book is here? No, but close. The Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") announced on Friday that it has published its first listing of approved biologic drugs. The list will be supplemented with approved biosimilar alternatives to the biologic drugs, termed the "List of Licensed Biological Products with Reference Product Exclusivity and Biosimilarity or Interchangeability Evaluations." Inevitably given a "color" designation (following the tradition of the "Orange Book" of approved small molecule drugs), the new listing of biologics is colloquially called the "Purple Book." Both the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research ("CDER") and the Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research (CBER) have published their own versions of the Purple Book (CDER List of Licensed Biological Products; CBER List of Licensed Biological Products; FDA Purple Book webpage).
The new lists disclose all approved biologic drugs and the date a product was licensed, as well as "whether the FDA evaluated the biological product for reference product exclusivity under section 351(k)(7) of the PHS Act." The Purple Book is intended to permit users to determine whether the FDA has licensed a biosimilar and whether such a biosimilar is interchangeable with an already-licensed reference biological product (i.e., an already-licensed FDA biological product). Both biosimilar and interchangeable biological products will be listed with regard to the reference product to which biosimilarity or interchangeability was demonstrated. The agency further announced that these lists will be updated "periodically."
This new resource is certain to become a valuable tool for life-sciences professionals, but it remains to be seen whether relevant patent information will ultimately make its way into the Purple Book, as is prevalent (and required) in its Orange Book cousin. Stay tuned.
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