From the Desk of the CEO

This year has seen the approval of 2 new biosimilar drugs, including the first biosimilar to earn FDA’s “interchangeable” designation. Byooviz (ranibizumab-nuna) is biosimilar to Lucentis (ranibizumab), a drug for neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn), the first such drug to earn the “interchangeable” distinction, is biosimilar to Lantus (insulin glargine) for diabetes.

New data from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) network show that 2.3% of children aged 8 years in 11 communities across the United States had an autism diagnosis in 2018.

New research from CDC, published in the December issue of Pediatrics, shows that the virus that causes mumps continues to circulate in the United States, primarily infecting people vaccinated against it, including children.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is alerting health care providers about potential confusion over new alternative packaging for casirivimab and imdevimab. These monoclonal antibodies, administered together as REGEN-COV, are used for treating COVID-19. ISMP recently received multiple reports about these types of errors.

According to CDC, people most often cite pain management as their reason for using medical cannabis in the United States. But according to a new clinical practice guideline published by Busse and colleagues in the September 2021 issue of BMJ, there is weak evidence to support the use of non-inhaled medical cannabis or cannabinoids for chronic pain. The recommendation is based on a robust analysis of results from 32 randomized controlled clinical trials.