Patent expiries set to boost flagging French biosimilar market
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Sales of biosimilars in France grew 11-fold between 2008 and 2012, but in value terms the market remains small, with sales of just €60m last year. However, this is set to change as major drugs such as Roche's MabThera (rituximab) and AbbVie's Humira (adalimumab) lose patent protection in the next few years, resulting in an increase in biosimilars' market share and a concomitant decline in the prices of reference drugs, according to a report from the regulatory agency ANSM.