Thursday, May 17, 2012

Why biologicals? Because of price, of course!


I described that biologicals in general and mAbs in particular are loved by Big Pharma due to higher profits associated with these drug development. And here is very nice numbers:

Currently, each biologic is single sourced and these valuable products are premium priced for good reason – they save and change lives. However, they also cost on average $22 a day versus brand drugs at around $2 a day and small molecule generics that cost just cents.

Well, pretty astonishing comparison! It is clear and there are no more any questions. Another numbers:

A confluence of factors has led to the creation of a market for biosimilars, but the main driver is the clear success of the originator products, totaling some $100 billion in annual sales in 2010 and expected to reach $150 billion by 2016. Indeed, by 2016, seven of the top 10 pharmaceuticals worldwide will be biologics. Over the three decades, recombinant biologics have become ingrained in our clinical armamentarium to prevent, manage and treat conditions from infectious diseases to cancer.

So far we have only promises and nobody knows how much time will it take to realize that mAb and biologicals are not a panacea but just a one instrument among other possibilities!

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