Biologics

Over the past three decades, generic medicines have significantly increased patient access to quality treatment, while lowering healthcare costs in the United States. Learn how a new class of prescription drugs knows as biosimilars, offers the same hope of increased access and reduced costs.

The American drug supply is among the safest in the world, with many protections for consumers and patients.  However, a pending proposal in Congress would remove key protections for all biologic drugs—crucial and lifesaving medicines we take like insulin, human growth hormones, and blood thinners. Learn more. 

Legislation being considered by Congress will remove the requirement that all biologic medicines – drugs such as insulin, vaccines, cancer treatments and other therapies made using living matter – comply with public quality standards of the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP). This same legislation would also apply to biosimilars. As a result, public confidence in biologics and biosimilars as well as patient safety would be at risk. Learn more.

For a hundred years, federal law has required that all drugs adhere to public quality standards—part of ensuring safety and protecting the public’s health. Language that would exempt biologics, including biosimilars, from adhering to the same public quality standards as other prescription medicines was recently added to the FDA and NIH Workforce Authorities Modernization Act. Learn about the potential impact this biologics quality exemption may have on competition, product development, and the public's confidence in biologics and biosimilars.