The United States Food and Drugs Administration Approves a Generic Enoxaparin

Abstract

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on July 23, 2010, the abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) by Sandoz Inc for a generic enoxaparin (Lovenox) as the FDA is satisfied with the active ingredient ‘‘sameness’’ and the interchangeability of Lovenox with this generic version. Regulatory authorities that consider low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) as drugs approve generic LMWHs via an ANDA pathway, whereas EMEA views them as biological medicines and will therefore regulate copies of LMWHs via a biosimilar pathway because only similar copies can be manufactured. Furthermore, European Medicines Agency (EMEA) requires appropriately powered clinical trails to establish comparable efficacy and safety profiles for biosimilar and their branded LMWHs counterparts. The safety issues that have led to withdrawal of some generic LMWHs from some Asian and South American countries mandate the need for a broad consensus defining the minimum attributes copies of LMWHs required for efficacy and safety.