They’re meant to save money for the health care system, carve into pharma’s profits, and finally rid your television of some annoying commercials. But what are biosimilars, and where’s the revolution they were promised to bring?
In short, biosimilars are cheaper versions of blockbuster drugs that can be sold as soon as those blockbusters lose patent protection. They’re conceptually similar to generics — the low-cost pills available in pharmacies around the world — but with a vastly important distinction: Biosimilars mimic biologic drugs, which are crafted from living cells, and that means they’re not technically identical the way off-brand atorvastatin is identical to Lipitor.
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Ohhh, I was digging this until he mentioned that “Humira is an antibody made by bacteria”… it is made in mammalian CHO cells. You would have been better off just saying cells…