If the patent on a chemically manufactured drug expires, other pharmaceutical companies are allowed to copy the drug. This means that generics come onto the market that undercut the original price. This also applies to biologics – i.e. biologically produced medicines. The generics in this segment are called biosimilars. Biosimilars are comparable to their originals in terms of quality, safety and effectiveness, says Marco Pucci, country manager at Sandoz Austria. But biosimilars do not always have to be identical to the original because they come from living organisms. They are therefore more complex to produce than classic generics, but also cheaper than the original.
