Illness affects us all. When people are impacted by disease, they deserve the best treatment. With the development of biosimilars, we aim to help as many people with serious diseases around the world as possible. Amgen biosimilars are supported by over 40 years of experience in the research, development, manufacturing, and supply of innovator biologics.

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Biosimilars

Increased access to essential medicines for patients. Watch this video to see how Amgen, with more than 40 years of experience in biologics, is also involved in the production of biosimilars.

Biosimilars provide more treatment options

for people with difficult-to-treat conditions 

With over 40 years of biologics experience,

Amgen was one of the first large-scale biotechnology manufacturers

In this journey, we work through a vertically integrated

network across all our biologic medicines –

both biosimilars and reference products

and we make sure to evaluate our global supply chain

and manufacturing to always improve our resilience

In fact, Amgen helped develop many of the manufacturing processes that built the global biotechnology industry and we are continuously working to redefine these

Processes to ensure a reliable supply of medicine

Every Patient

Every Time

Biosimilars Basics

Amgen is committed to developing high-quality biosimilar medicines for patients. Amgen was one of the first large-scale biotechnology manufacturers, and we have developed some of the most widely used, quality biologic medicines used in the treatment of millions of patients around the world.

  • WHAT IS A BIOSIMILAR?

    A biosimilar is a biologic medicine that is highly similar to an approved biologic medicine, known as the reference biologic or reference medicine, and is designed to work just like the reference medicine.

    Biologics are medicines that contain substances made by living cells and/or tissues.

    Biosimilar treatment options are available for chronic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and certain cancers.

    To be approved, a biosimilar must show it has no clinically meaningful differences to the reference biologic in terms of quality, safety, and its ability to produce the desired outcome in patients (also known as efficacy).

  • AMGEN’S HERITAGE AND LEGACY

    Amgen has been a biotechnology innovator since 1980. We have been steeped in this challenging field since the early days of recombinant DNA technology, when a handful of scientists and investors came together to prove the promise of innovative biotechnology.

    We are leaders in the development of treatments across six therapeutic areas: oncology and hematology, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, inflammation, bone health, and neuroscience.

    At Amgen, our mission has always been to develop treatment options that improve outcomes and help patients live fuller lives.

  • BIOSIMILAR MANUFACTURING

    At Amgen, our biosimilar medicines are manufactured with the same high degree of quality as any of our biologic medicines. Like all biologics, testing is performed during the manufacturing process to assess biosimilar quality.

  • EXTRAPOLATION

    Extrapolation is used to support the approval of a proposed biosimilar product in one or more additional indications for which the reference product is licensed, but for which the biosimilar has not been studied in clinical trials.

    Extrapolation has the potential to reduce or eliminate the need to study a proposed biosimilar with clinical trials in every indication of the reference product. But it is not an automatic process. It is based on all available data in the biosimilar application and a regulatory body like FDA’s previous findings of safety and efficacy of the reference product’s approved indications.

  • BIOSIMILARS DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING

    Developing a biosimilar is a complex process. Biosimilars, like all biologics, are produced through an intricate, multistep process, using living cells. However, the cell line and manufacturing process of the reference product are proprietary and belong to the original manufacturer. Biosimilarity can be established through evaluation of the biosimilar in various experiments and testing including active comparator clinical trials, in comparison to the reference biologic.1-4

  • OUR PROCESS

    At Amgen, we excel at the highly specialized, iterative process of developing monoclonal antibodies in vitro, scaling up the optimal cell line, time and again, in large-scale bioreactors, and checking and rechecking for batch-to-batch consistency.2,6

  • RELIABLE SUPPLY

    At Amgen, we make medicines for serious illnesses and chronic conditions that deeply affect patients’ lives. We know it is imperative patients receive an uninterrupted supply of medicine and that gaps in supply can have serious consequences.

    Manufacturers of biologic medicines are responsible for monitoring all steps during product development and manufacturing to ensure that the medicine is pure, has the desired strength and is stable.2 A reliable supply chain is key to this responsibility. Biosimilar supply chains should:

    • Ensure product authentication
    • Maintain strict warehouse security
    • Incorporate vigilant cargo security
    • Conduct market surveillance