Europe's CHMP recommends 10 drugs in 1 week

It was a very, very big week in Europe for drugmakers. The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended 10 drugs for approval, including two biosimilars, it said today. It gave the nod to three medicines to treat cancer, including  Provenge from Dendreon ($DNDN), Bayer's Stivarga and GlaxoSmithKline's ($GSK) Tafinlar. There was also a positive recommendation for Sanofi's ($SNY) Lemtrada for some patients with multiple sclerosis. The biosimilars go up against the blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Remicade from Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) and Merck & Co. ($MRK). The biosimilars are Remsima, made by South Korea's Celltrion, and Inflectra, which comes from Hospira ($HSP). Drugmakers are watching the biosimilar market in Europe very closely for ideas of how it will play out in the U.S. when the rules are finally set here. Release | More