Posted by Michael Wonder on 13 Jul 2016
With biosimilars, big pharma fights itself
13 July 2016 - Fighting yourself is a losing battle.
A long-cherished hope of some companies that make expensive biologic medications -- complex drugs made with living cells -- is that they were relatively safe from competition because biologics are tougher to copy and replace than traditional drugs. That's looking a bit less true every day.
In a delightfully incestuous turn, big companies aren't just fighting so-called biosimilar versions of these drugs anymore -- they're making them.
Amgen, which is litigating against biosimilars of its own drugs, is bringing its version of AbbVie's Humira in front of an FDA panel of experts Tuesday. Novartis is doing the same thing Wednesday with its copy of Amgen's Enbrel. The FDA has given fairly glowing reviews to both biosimilars. Humira, with $14 billion in sales last year, and Enbrel, with more than $5 billion, both have substantial patent protection. But competitors hope to chip it away.
