Stock Watch: The Meaning Of Biosimilar Success

Big Pharma, Generic Or Biotech Firms: Which Will Be The Long-Term Winners?

With two recent divestments of biosimilar franchises and lackluster performances from smaller biosimilar biotechs, the sector needs some standard-bearing successes.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith
ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINESS

The "patent cliff", or drop-off in revenues at innovator pharmaceutical companies when small molecule drugs lose exclusivity, should have been replicated with the commercialization of biosimilar and complex generic drugs. But the years of legal wrangling that often preceded the losses of exclusivity frequently made this transition more of a nursery slope than a cliff. Moreover, the cumulative delays forced some of the early launches into stand-alone new drug or biological license applications. (Also see "Stock Watch: The Complex Biologics Market Is…Complex" - Scrip, 29 March, 2021.)

At the time of the first launches under the 2009 US biosimilar legislation it was suggested that companies best-equipped to...

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