- The Food and Drug Administration has approved the new biosimilar Insulin for the people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
- This new drug, Semglee is used as another option for the people consuming long-injectable insulins like Lantus.
- Experts believe that this new product does not give a substantial impact on the price of insulin.
The long-injectable insulins such as Lantus used for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic people will soon have potentially cheaper insulin. Semglee, a new long-acting insulin has been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Semglee is perhaps a biosimilar insulin glargine, that it can be interchanged with other insulin products such as Toujeo, Lantus, and Basaglar.
“Biosimilars are just like generics for the biologics”, said by Joanna Lewis, MBA, PharmD, a pharmacist in Florida. There is no replica of their molecules and they are biosimilar because they are made from the living organisms and not from small-molecule generics.
This approval of the new drug in the markets uses a new regulatory pathway which has been set by FDA in hope of increasing the competition in the market. This approval highlights the FDA’s longstanding commitment to support the competitive market for the insulin products. Dr. Patrick Archdeacon, the associate director for the therapeutics in the FDA’s division of Diabetes, Obesity, and Lipid Disorder said in a press release.
Competition, certainly will not lower the prices
Unlike the generic drug, Semglee might not be the cheaper alternative. There are currently three long-acting insulins in the market scenario. Two of the companies are owned by the same manufacturer and the third one is a ‘branded generic’. “It is somehow lack in the competition within the insulin markets and the new products will unlikely to be less expensive”, said by Dr. Jessica Nouhavandi, a lead pharmacist and the co-founder of online pharmacy Honeybee Health.
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