Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer-J&J Legal Brawl Could Set Precedent For Competition In Biosimilar Landscape
The Washington Post: Pfizer Sues Johnson & Johnson, Alleging Anticompetitive Practices To Maintain A Drug Monopoly
A legal brawl between two of the world’s largest drug companies could shape the future of a nascent market of copycat drugs that are intended to bring down the cost of the most advanced and expensive medicines. Pfizer filed a lawsuit Wednesday against fellow pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson for using “anticompetitive” tactics to quash its cheaper version of a powerful rheumatoid arthritis drug. Johnson & Johnson issued a statement saying the lawsuit had no merit. (Johnson, 9/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Alleges J&J Thwarted Competition To Remicade, In Legal Test Of Biotech-Drug Copies
The complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, says J&J’s “exclusionary contracts” for Remicade with health insurers, hospitals and clinics effectively prevented them from offering Pfizer’s lower-priced copy so they could retain rebates and other J&J perks. The lawsuit is the first antitrust action to surface amid the emergence of biosimilars, which are copies of popular biotech drugs, after years of litigation over patents and timing of launches. Pfizer’s Inflectra is the biosimilar of Remicade. (Rockoff, 9/20)
Stat: Pfizer Accuses J&J Of Illegally Stifling Coverage For Its Biosimilar
The move comes nearly a year after Pfizer launched its drug amid speculation that a price war with J&J would ensue, since prevailing wisdom says a lower price is needed to gain market share. But despite initially pricing Inflectra at a 15 percent discount to the $31,500 list price for Remicade, the drug generated just $172 million in sales during the first six months of this year. By contrast, Remicade notched $3.2 billion in global sales – and $1 billion in U.S. sales – during that time. (Silverman, 9/20)
Stat: Advocacy Groups Get Some, But Not All, Trial Data On Gilead Hepatitis C Drugs
File this under, “Half a loaf.” After a two-year battle, a pair of public health advocacy groups obtained sought-after clinical trial data from regulators for two hepatitis C treatments sold by Gilead Sciences (GILD). But they failed to gain access to the most coveted information that would allow researchers to independently verify test results which were originally generated by the company. (Silverman, 9/20)
