Worldwide growth in the biosimilars market is hitting its tipping point, analysts say.
Sales are projected to hit $25 billion by 2020, according to the folks over at BioWorld who put together a new report, “Biosimilars: A Global Perspective of a New Market.” This is pretty impressive projected growth, considering that total global sales of drugs approved as biosimilars in 2011 were about $510 million.
“There’s no turning back now. It’s a legitimate sector,” the report says.
The biologics market, after all, is projected to grow more than 80 percent, from $138 billion in 2010 to $253 billion by 2020. As biosimilars are about 20 to 30 percent cheaper than biologics, they’re expected to deliver between $11 billion and $33 billion in savings across the European Union alone by 2020. The report continues:
Slow market uptake of biosimilars in the EU doesn’t portend the same for the U.S. Unlike most of the EU, the U.S. has thrown interchangeability into the mix. A big benefit, it’s expected to speed adoption and lead to lower prices.
Let’s not forget . . . patients. In many parts of the world, biosimilars will offer new hope to patients who previously did not have access to pricey biologics. Cheaper versions of EPO , G-CSF, human growth hormone, insulin, interferon and now MAbs, for example, are bringing the power of biologics for the very first time to some markets in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
As an aside, an interesting infographic from the report that outlines the costliness of drugs in the U.S.:
