Considerations for Use of Pharmacodynamic Biomarkers to Support Biosimilar Development – (I) A Randomized Trial with PCSK9 Inhibitors

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance outlines how biosimilars can be developed based on pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) similarity study data in lieu of a comparative clinical efficacy study. There is a paucity of PD comparability studies in biosimilar development, leaving open questions about how best to plan these studies. To that end, we conducted a randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled, single‐dose, parallel‐arm clinical study in healthy participants to evaluate approaches to address information gaps, inform analysis best practices, and apply emerging technologies in biomarker characterization. Seventy‐two healthy participants ( n = 8 per arm) received either placebo or one of four doses of the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors alirocumab (15–100 mg) or evolocumab (21–140 mg) to evaluate the maximum change from baseline (ΔPD max ) and the baseline‐adjusted area under the effect curve (AUEC) for the biomarkers low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) and apolipoprotein B (apoB) in serum. We investigated approaches to minimize variability in PD measures. Coefficient of variation was lower for LDL‐C than apoB at therapeutic doses. Modeling and simulation were used to establish the dose–response relationship and provided support that therapeutic doses for these products are adequately sensitive and are on the steep part of the dose–response curves. Similar dose–response relationships were observed for both biomarkers. ΔPD max plateaued at lower doses than AUEC. In summary, this study illustrates how pilot study data can be leveraged to inform appropriate dosing and data analyses for a PK and PD similarity study.