, Columnist
Roche's Bad Biosimilar Day Is No Disaster
The threat to its biologic drugs is still hazy, and it has defenses.
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It's not often the FDA devotes nearly an entire day to giving bad news to one company.
The first blow hit Roche Holding AG Thursday morning, when an FDA panel voted unanimously to approve an Amgen Inc. drug that is a "biosimilar" substitute -- like a generic, but for drugs made with living cells instead of chemicals -- for Roche's blockbuster cancer drug Avastin. Then in the afternoon the panel approved a Mylan NV biosimilar for another Roche best-seller, Hercpetin.