Prescription medicines: registration of new generic medicines and biosimilar medicines, 2018

Generic medicines

A generic medicine is an additional brand of an existing medicine. It contains the same 'active ingredient' as the existing medicine; the 'active ingredient' is the chemical that is biologically active in the body and makes the medicine work. Active ingredients can be manufactured and sold by other sponsors once the patent for the existing brand medicine has expired.

Apart from containing the same active ingredient, generic medicines must also be 'bioequivalent'. This means that the same amount of active ingredient is absorbed by the body over the same period of time for the same dose of generic or existing medicine.

A 'first generic' medicine is the first registration approved by TGA which permits a sponsor to market a generic drug product in Australia that contains a particular active ingredient. First generics are significant because they have the potential to create more affordable treatment options for patients by triggering a price reduction under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Because the first generic registered by TGA may not necessarily be the first that is PBS listed, please consult the PBS website - external site for further information.

Biosimilar medicines

A biosimilar medicine is a version of a biological medicine that is already registered and is referred to as the 'reference medicine'.

Both the biosimilar medicine and its reference medicine will have similar core characteristics such as physicochemical, biological, immunological, efficacy and safety, which are demonstrated using comprehensive comparability studies. Most biosimilar medicines are likely to contain biotechnology-derived proteins as the active substance.

Please note that the sponsor name reflects the information in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) at the time of registration. As sponsors may change over time, consult the ARTG for full information in relation to these products, including full indications.

Once an application has been accepted for evaluation by TGA, the approval time is defined as the number of TGA working days between commencement of evaluation and registration decision. TGA works to business target timeframes as well as to legislated timeframes for each category of application. Approval times are underpinned by legislation (see Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990) and excludes public holidays, weekends, the time allocated to the sponsor to respond to requests for information, 'mutual clock stop' periods agreed with the sponsor, or other review activities.

Approval times are reported in the number of TGA working days for each new registration, along with the legislated timeframe (unless otherwise indicated) for that category of application in brackets.

First generic: first TGA approval of a new medicine that contains the same active ingredient as an existing medicine and is bioequivalent to that medicine

Registration of new generic medicines and biosimilar medicines, 2018

All products were approved within the statutory 255 working day period.

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