This post has been updated based on FDA approval of Celltrion’s Inflectra™, a biosimilar Remicade® (infliximab) for treating arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, on April 5, 2016. Inflextra is the second biosimilar approved by the FDA and the first to be granted multiple indications. This is an important milestone for biosimilars in the United States.
Since the first FDA approval of a biosimilar in March 2015, biosimilars have quickly become one of the hottest topics in the US pharmaceutical industry. Why is this such a big deal, and is the US market ready?
Biosimilars are alternatives to innovative biologic therapies (known as “originator” products) such as Humira® (adalimumab) and Enbrel® (etanercept) for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis, or Herceptin® (trastuzumab) and Avastin® (bevacizumab) for treating cancer.
Biosimilars promise to increase access to these life-changing biologic therapies by reducing costs, analogous to the cost savings of generic drugs over brand-named drugs. In fact, biosimilars could save American consumers about $250 billion over the next 10 years.1