There’s been a lot of press floating around lately about the push to develop a framework for biogeneric (or biosimilar, or follow-on, etc.) approvals.
Why are biogenerics so hard to regulate? Why can’t they just follow the same path as traditional generic drugs? The answer lies in their size and complexity. I’ll use the following excerpt from my book:
In order to gain approval, traditional generic manufacturers must demonstrate that their drugs are chemically identical to pioneer versions and exhibit the same properties in the human body as the original drugs do. How can you do this for biogenerics? Well, you can’t. It’s currently not possible to demonstrate that a second-source biologic drug is identical to an innovator’s drug. That’s why the path to biologic generics is likely going to involve abbreviated clinical trials and it’s why the resulting generics will likely exhibit slightly different properties than the original drugs. Because of these differences, biogenerics won’t be as relatively cheap as traditional generics are, and they’ll face an extra burden to demonstrate that they are as safe and effective as the established branded drug they’re competing with.