As drug makers race to develop cheaper versions of complicated biologic medicines, some companies are pursuing a tactic that could prove a win for themselves, patients, and the health care system as a whole.
They are running studies designed to convince doctors and insurers that patients can be easily switched from expensive biologics — such as the arthritis treatments Humira and Enbrel — to so-called biosimilars, which are almost identical variants. Their goal is to encourage these kinds of switches without waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to decide whether a particular biosimilar has the exact same clinical benefit as its expensive, brand-name counterpart.
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