Over the past three decades, generic medicines have significantly increased patient access to quality treatment, while lowering healthcare costs in the United States. A new class of prescription drugs knows as biosimilars offers the same promise of increased access and reduced costs. Biosimilars are "similar" to biologic drugs - medications that are derived from living organisms and are used to treat cancer, auto-immune diseases and other chronic conditions.
The infographic below illustrates how generics have increased access to patient treatment and lowered costs of drugs.
For more information about the role of USP's quality standards for generic and biosimilars, visit http://www.usp.org/patient-safety-risk
