Posted by Michael Wonder on 10 May 2018
Games and greed delay the market entry of money-saving biosimilars
9 May 2018 - Generic medicines have saved Americans $1.67 trillion in the last decade.
Biosimilars, which are more affordable, highly similar, safe, and effective versions of complex biologic medicines, are poised to do the same thing — if they aren’t thwarted by delaying tactics instituted by some pharmaceutical companies.
Some blame the FDA, saying it is lagging behind its European counterpart in approving biosimilar medicines. Leah Christl, the associate director for therapeutic biologics at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, recently pushed back against that criticism, noting that Europe has been approving biosimilars since 2006, while the FDA began approving biosimilars only in 2015.
