Biosimilars

[imoldernu]

My grandson will be entering Pitt in the fall, to begin doctorate in microbiology.
It didn't mean much to me, until I saw the purchase of Hospira by Pfizer... and the sale price of $15 Billion.

The drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said it would buy Hospira Inc. for about $15 billion to gain access to biosimilars, copies of biotech drugs made from living cells.

Pfizer To Buy Hospira For About $15 Billion - Business Insider

The underlying value seems to be Hospira's development of Biosimilars... a term I didn't understand. It looks to be the next advancement in lower cost, off copyright drugs.
More to learn about this here:
Biosimilar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Even though the biosimilars market is rising, the price drop for biological drugs at risk of patent expiration will not be as great as for other generic drugs; in fact it has been estimated that the price for biosimilar products will be 65%-85% of their originators. Biosimilars are drawing market's attention since there is an upcoming patent cliff, which will put nearly 36% of the 140bn USD market for biologic drugs at risk (as of 2011), this considering only the top 10 selling products.

A little over my head, but as I see things like "three parent babies" nothing surprises me any more. In another thread someone mentioned genetic molecule changes as a means to eternal life.

Am afraid it won't be in time to help me.

 

[Alan]

A little over my head, but as I see things like "three parent babies" nothing surprises me any more.

Certainly been in the news recently....