It was approved in the European Union in 1998, and in the US in 2002; it has since been approved in more than 90 countries worldwide including Canada and Australia. EMD Serono has had sole rights to Rebif in the US since January 2016. Rebif is administered via subcutaneous injection. Cinnovex
Cinnovex is the brand name of recombinant Interferon beta-1a, which is manufactured as biosimilar/biogeneric in Iran. It is produced in a lyophilized form and sold with distilled water for injection. Cinnovex was developed at the Fraunhofer Society in collaboration with CinnaGen, and is the first therapeutic protein from a Fraunhofer laboratory to be approved as biogeneric / biosimilar medicine. There are several clinical studies to prove the similarity of CinnoVex and Avonex. A more water-soluble variant is currently being investigated by the Vakzine Projekt Management (VPM) GmbH in Braunschweig, Germany. Plegridy
Plegridy is a brand name of a pegylated form of Interferon beta-1a. Plegridys advantage is it only needs injecting once every two weeks. Betaferon (interferon beta-1b)
Closely related to interferon beta-1a is interferon beta-1b, which is also indicated for MS, but is formulated with a different dose and administered with a different frequency. Each drug has a different safety/efficacy profile. Interferon beta-1b is marketed only by Bayer in the US as Betaseron, and outside the US as Betaferon. Economics
In the United States, as of 2015, the cost is between US$1,284 and US$1,386 per 30 mcg vial.
As of 2020, the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) in the United States for Avonex was $6,872.94 for a 30 mcg kit.Avonex and Rebif are on the top ten best-selling multiple sclerosis drugs of 2013:It is an example of a specialty drug that would only be available through a specialty pharmacy. This is because it requires a refrigerated chain of distribution and costs $17,000-a-year. Research
COVID-19
Interferon beta-1a administered subcutaneously or intravenously was investigated since March 2020 as a potential treatment in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a multinational Solidarity trial (initially in combination with lopinavir) but it did not reduce in-hospital mortality compared to local standard of care.SNG001, an inhalation formulation of interferon beta-1a, is being developed as a treatment for COVID-19 by Synairgen. A pilot trial in hospitalized patients showed higher odds of clinical improvement with SNG001 compared to placebo and in January 2021 a phase 3 trial in this population started. References
External links
"Interferon beta-1a". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Interferon Beta-1a Intramuscular Injection". MedlinePlus.