Congress Is Still Open to Drug Incentives

While neither of the anti-infective incentives in the Senate FDARA bill we wrote about earlier this week appears to create a niche for a blockbuster commercial product, together the incentives show that there is still room for pharma advocates to negotiate for incentives with the Democratic Congress.

That’s an important point as potential biogenerics legislation hangs around the fringes of the progressing user fee/drug safety bill (S 1082, the Food & Drug Administration Revitalization Act).

Democratic and Republican staffers involved in the follow-on biologics debate have reported good progress on the approval pathway and safety issues for follow-on biologics. They have said publicly that they expect more difficulty around the incentive discussions.

If history is any guide, the ability of the existing innovators in the biologics category (primarily Amgen, Biogen-Idec, Genentech, Genzyme and J&J) to carve out protections for their products will determine whether follow-on biologics is added as a last-minute part of the PDUFA/drug safety package this year.

That’s how Waxman-Hatch was passed in 1984 (when Pfizer and J&J cut deals to protect some of their major in-line products) and that’s what it will take to get a follow-on biologics bill this session.