J&J says 'not now' on biosimilars

Biosimilars? Thanks, but no thanks, says Johnson & Johnson. The company's executive director for public policy says it has no plans to jump into copycat biotech drugs--at least for now--despite the fact that it has plenty of expertise in the market for branded versions of those meds.

Congress is now entertaining several bills that would create a regulatory mechanism for generic biotech meds. The proposals vary, most notably in the amount of time they allow branded versions to have exclusive sway. One bill offers only five years of exclusivity before generics could hit the market; another offers 12 years.

J&J's Audrey Phillips, executive director of public policy, says the company supports the bill with 12 years of exclusivity. Of course, we say; as the company that raked in $3.7 billion on Remicade sales last year, J&J would hardly be likely to back a brief exclusivity period.

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