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Review article: Biomedical intelligence

Vol. 144 No. 2728 (2014)

The advent of biosimilars: challenges and risks

  • Rüdiger Müller
  • Christoph Renner
  • Cem Gabay
  • Giuseppe Cassata
  • Andreas Lohri
  • Paul Hasler
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2014.13980
Cite this as:
Swiss Med Wkly. 2014;144:w13980
Published
30.06.2014

Summary

Biosimilars represent a new class of medicinal products that will have significant impact on clinical use. They are identical on an amino acid sequence level to existing reference biopharmaceutical products (originals). However, they may exhibit differences on a protein level. This paper provides a brief overview of biosimilar development and describes the risk and challenges that should be considered during the admission of biosimilars into the clinic.

Key words: biosimilars; monoclonal antibodies; manufacturing process; extrapolation; interchangeability; switching; Swissmedic; approval process

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