On March 6, 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an application by Sandoz to market a biosimilar version of Amgen’s Neupogen(filgrastrim) biologic drug. Neupogen is a 175 amino acid recombinant methionyl human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (r-metHuG-CSF), and is often prescribed for cancer patients on chemotherapy at times when they are at most risk of infection because their white blood cell count is low. Sandoz, a division of Novartis, will market its biosimilar under the brand name Zarxio.