Posted by Michael Wonder on 25 Apr 2017
FDA approves new drug that could take a slice out of Johnson & Johnson’s best seller
24 April 2017 - Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson's Remicade brought in nearly $7 billion in sales last year.
But Samsung Bioepis and partner Merck are hoping to claw away some of that market share with a new rival therapy—one that could come at a significant discount to the pricey arthritis and psoriasis treatment, which is J&J's best-selling product by far.
The FDA has given the green light to Renflexis, which is now the second approved "biosimilar" of Remicade in the U.S. (the first was Pfizer's Inflectra, approved last April). Biosimilars mimic biologic drugs, which, as the name implies, are derived from biological matter rather than chemicals. They tend to be much more expensive than conventional medicines and are some of the most lucrative pharma products in the world.
