Published 6 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4088
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4088

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US health reform bill will hinder introduction of generic forms of biological drugs, critics say

Janice Hopkins Tanne

1 New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Medical students and consumer groups in the United States have objected to parts of the proposed healthcare reform bills, which they say will make it more difficult to introduce cheap generic forms of biological drugs (drugs derived biologically rather than chemically).

The American Medical Students Association and the consumer groups Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, Essential Action, and Knowledge Ecology International say that provisions in several Senate and House of Representatives healthcare reform bills will block the introduction of most generic biologicals. Improving the proposed bills could save $71bn (£45bn; {euro}49bn) in the first decade of health reform, they say.

They are calling on Congress to create a pathway for the production of generic biological drugs.

The drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) says that biological drugs should get longer protection against competition from manufacturers of generics. Their development is "scientifically complex, time consuming, and . . . [Full text of this article]


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