The FDA's Biosimilar Action Plan

By Dr Nicola Davies

The world’s total expenditure on medicines was $1.135 trillion in 2017 and is projected to reach $1.4 trillion in 2022.1 Understandably, when contemplating such large figures, the reaction from governments, healthcare payers and the public has been to seek more value for every dollar spent, writes Dr Nicola Davies on her regular blog for The Pharma Letter.

One solution that has been successful was to turn to generics on a very large scale, since generic drugs cost around 70% less than the reference drugs. This approach was extended, in 2006 in Europe and in 2009 in the USA, to biological drugs by promoting the production and use of biosimilars.