French plan to push copycat biotech drugs worries Big Pharma

By Natalie Huet and Noëlle Mennella PARIS (Reuters) - France is going out on a limb with a plan to push the use of cheap copies of biotech drugs, triggering alarm among companies in Europe's second-biggest pharmaceutical market behind Germany. The government quietly introduced the measure allowing pharmacists to substitute prescribed brand-name biotech drugs with cheaper, similar versions in its 2014 healthcare budget. France is the first European country to pursue biologic substitution, and governments across the continent, grappling with rising healthcare costs, may be tempted to follow if the measure is a success. But there are still major uncertainties as to whether it will really move the dial in encouraging use of so-called biosimilars, which have been slow to take off.



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