Partner Aydin Harston is quoted in a Financial Times article on biosimilars in Europe versus the United States.
U.S. healthcare costs are significantly higher than Europe’s costs and the wider availability of biosimilar drug products in Europe is an important contributing factor to that disparity.
"'This is a market that pharmaceutical companies that invent such treatments guard closely,' says Aydin, who also holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. 'Global sales for the top 10 branded biologic drugs totaled about $81bn in 2019.'"
Differences in review processes for the approval of biosimilars, patent litigation landscapes, drug price controls (or lack thereof), and biologic exclusivity periods contribute to the disparity.
“'There is a direct cost to the public in the availability of products that are biosimilar to brand-name treatments — the more biosimilars, the more generic medicine options are available at a cheaper cost,' Aydin points out. 'But there is a balance to be had. Intellectual property protections exist to spur innovation and, without them, pharmaceutical companies would generally not have sufficient motivation to develop new treatments, particularly the cost-intensive biologic therapies.'"
To read the full Financial Times article, "US plays catch-up with Europe over biosimilar patents," please click here.
