Overview of non-innovator biological products in India

As per regulatory requirements, biosimilar drugs must show high similarity to their reference product in quality, preclinical and clinical tests. It is by these means that biosimilars are considered to be safe and efficacious. In India, any major deviation(s) from science-based principles in the manufacturing of a recombinant DNA-derived therapeutic biological product leads to its classification as a ‘non-innovator’ biological, which are approved as ‘New Drugs’. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these biological products have uncertain safety and efficacy when compared to the reference biological and are therefore not recommended for use. However, these so-called non-innovator biological products continue to be developed in India, for reasons including brief and poorly implemented guidelines on biologicals, a lack of expertise on biosimilars amongst drug regulatory committees, lack of coordination among government departments working on biosimilars, poor quality accreditation in testing laboratories, and a lack of patent protection for innovator drugs. There is an urgent need to identify deficiencies in the ministries responsible for biosimilars in India, which could be through a scientific audit. Compliance with such an audit could strengthen the Indian regulatory system and thus increase the provision of affordable, high quality biosimilars in India.