Do You Know What Biologics Are?
In 2008, 28 percent of sales from the pharmaceutical industry’s top 100 products came from biologics; by 2014, that share is expected to rise to 50 percent.
Biologic drugs can be more expensive to manufacture; they are grown inside living cells rather than put together chemically, as conventional drugs are. But this does not fully account for their high prices. Another important factor is that they very rarely face competition from generic copies.
Interesting issue. I suppose there should be some limit on patent protection.
I agree with Ken.
Under current law, biologics technically loose patent protection. However, they also must undergo the same sort of testing required for name-brand biologics initial approval. In addition, biologic drugs are not substitutable by pharmacists so for all practical purposes, there is no such thing as a bio-generic. The industry prefers to call them biosimilar. It’s a complex issue with no easy answers.