25 August 2019 - Drugs grown in live cells are hard to replicate. But policy changes can help accelerate the process.

Biologic drugs are one of this century’s great medical triumphs. They’ve reshaped the treatment of diverse and debilitating diseases from cancer to multiple sclerosis to heart attacks.

They’re also one of the fastest-growing segments of drug spending. Medicare’s total tab for biologics has increased 9.5% a year since 2009, to about $20 billion in 2016. Across the entire market, spending on biologics totaled $125.5 billion in 2018, up 50% since 2014.

Read Wall Street Journal article