ARE WE READY FOR GENERIC BIOTECH? / Safety concerns -- and enormous profits -- at issue as industry braces for copycat drugs: "GENERIC BIOTECHNOLOGY DRUGS: A LOOK AT THE PROS AND CONS
Arguments for:
Billions of dollars in medical costs could be saved by using copycat versions of biotechnology drugs.
The potential savings are growing larger every year because biotech drugs are the fastest-growing segment of the national pharmaceutical bill.
Arguments against:
Generic drugmakers can't assure that copies of biotech drugs are exact because they can't duplicate proprietary manufacturing methods.
Biotech companies must be shielded from generic competition longer than conventional pharmaceutical companies because creating biotech drugs is costlier and riskier than traditional drug development."
