Biosimilars can be profitable — but quality matters

Teva Pharmaceuticals can attribute its 10% stock bump in large part to its recent launch of Truxima, a biosimilar for the monoclonal antibody Rituxan. Sales of the lookalike biologic have helped boost revenue for the Israeli generics maker, it said in its fourth-quarter earnings call.

Biosimilars have been a difficult sector: Though cheaper than their branded biologic counterparts, they’re still quite costly and have struggled to penetrate the American market. That makes Teva’s success with Truxima worthy of note — and we’ll be watching to to see how its Herceptin biosimilar, Herzuma, will perform after it’s launched in March-ish.

On that note: The manufacturing rigor required of biologics and their similars is tremendous, particularly when compared to chemically synthesized pharmaceuticals. So there has to be global accountability — and a consensus among drug makers to prioritize that biologic and biosimilar quality, Amgen’s R&D chief writes for STAT.