Calif. governor should veto biosimilar bill, GPhA's Ralph Neas writes

NEW YORK — A trade group of generic drug makers is hoping that California's governor vetoes a bill that it says would restrict patients' access to biosimilars.

In an op-ed published Friday in the San Jose, Calif., Mercury News, Generic Pharmaceutical Association president and CEO Ralph Neas wrote that the bill, S.B. 598, which the legislature passed last month, would cause the state to miss out on the more than $27.6 billion in savings over the next decade that pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts estimates could be had if the state's healthcare system had full access to biosimilars.

"Unless Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes a bill that would restrict future access to biosimilar medicines, Californians are at risk of becoming pawns in the self-serving efforts of large biotech companies to protect profits at the expense of patients," Neas wrote.

Click here to read the full letter.