Research released Monday finds comparable safety and efficacy for one type of biosimilar drugs, complex medicines intended to be near-copies of some of the most costly prescription drugs on the market, but highlights the need for more information on the products.
In the absence of generic alternatives to these pricey treatments, called biologics, biosimilar drugs hold great promise for U.S. patients and their wallets.
Biologics are drugs made or derived from living cells using cutting-edge biotechnology. But, because their molecules are more complex than those that make up typical drugs, exact-copy generics aren’t possible. Instead, a new class of drugs called biosimilars have the potential to be generic-like substitutes needed to keep costs down.
