While generic drugs typically cost 80 percent less than brand name medications, biosimilar versions of costly biologic drugs fail to produce similar savings, according to NPR.
Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy in Durham, N.C., said early indications show biosimilars will only reduce costs by 15 or 20 percent — offering much lower savings than typical generic drugs, according to the report.
As of Oct. 5, the FDA started work to process 66 projects involving biosimilar drugs, which could potentially lead to the approval of 20 new substitutes for existing medications, according to Leah Christl, PhD, associate director for therapeutic biologics at the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Inflectra will be the second FDA-approved biosimilar drug to hit the market.
Pfizer recently announced plans to launch Inflectra — a biosimilar version of Johnson & Johnson's best-selling arthritis drug Remicade — in November. While the New York City-based drugmaker said it would provide Inflectra at a cost 15 percent lower than Remicade's, the price is by no means cheap.
Inflectra's wholesale acquisition cost is $946 per vial, while a similar size vial of Remicade goes for $1,113, according to data from Truven Health Analytics.
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