Co­herus pulls first in­ter­change­able biosim­i­lar win for Lu­cen­tis copy­cat

Move over, Lu­cen­tis. The FDA has ap­proved the first in­ter­change­able biosim­i­lar to Roche’s block­buster an­ti-VEGF drug.

Co­herus’ Cimer­li is ex­pect­ed to hit the mar­ket in Oc­to­ber af­ter get­ting the FDA’s thumbs-up in five reti­nal in­di­ca­tions, the com­pa­ny an­nounced on Tues­day. Cimer­li isn’t the first biosim­i­lar to ri­val Roche’s eye drug — but it is the first to win in­ter­change­able sta­tus, mean­ing it can be sub­sti­tut­ed at the phar­ma­cy in some cas­es.

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