Despite protests to the contrary, many Big Pharma (and some Big Biotechs) are pursuing biosimilars as a means to generate additional revenue -- particularly in the emerging markets. Many had disavowed ever pursuing these markets -- symbolically likening them to ugly frogs of the drug world -- but have changed their tune as times toughened and pipelines dried up.
The IN VIVO Blog: So We're Courting Biosimilars After All -- For Market Access.
But now, the following companies (and the list is not exhaustive) have made it clear that biosimilars are important to their future commercial strategies. The list includes: Amgen, Biogen Idec, Pfizer, Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Eli Lilly to name just a few. That is in addition to some of the traditional big players in generics field like Sandoz, Teva and Hospira.
The biosimilars field is likely to get crowded and be very competitive. There is no reason to doubt that the leaders that emerge will be very familiar names that we all know from the innovator pharma space plus a few big genercis houses. Both groups will begin to look much more like one another as portfolios expand and blend innovator and biosimilar (& generics) products within.
All will be courting those formerly spurned frogs in an attempts to find handsome comercial princes.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Oct 24th 2011.
Comments