Emerging Health Care Issues:

Follow-on Biologic Drug Competition

Federal Trade Commission Report | June 2009
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

JON LEIBOWITZ Chairman 

PAMELA JONES HARBOUR Commissioner 

WILLIAM E. KOVACIC Commissioner 

J. THOMAS ROSCH Commissioner 

Joni Lupovitz Chief of Staff 

Charles H. Schneider Executive Director 

Richard Feinstein Director, Bureau of Competition 

Jeanne Bumpus Director, Office of Congressional Relations 

Susan S. DeSanti Director, Office of Policy Planning 

Donald S. Clark Secretary of the Commission 

Report Drafters and Contributors

Michael S. Wroblewski, Deputy Director, Office of Policy Planning 

Elizabeth A. Jex, Bureau of Competition 

Suzanne Drennon Munck, Bureau of Competition 

Christopher J. Garmon, Bureau of Economics 

Suzanne T. Michel, Assistant Director, Office of Policy Coordination, 

 Bureau of Competition 

Alissa Wantman, Bureau of Competition 

Ossie L. Neal, Bureau of Competition 

Inquiries concerning this report should be directed to: 

Michael S. Wroblewski (202) 326-2435 or mwroblewski@ftc.gov

Figure 1-1 caption modified June 11, 2009.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Over the past three decades, the lure of patent protection, coupled with the ability to price 

at market rates, has spurred pioneer drug manufacturers to develop new therapeutic drugs known 

as biologics. These innovations have improved medical treatments, reduced suffering, and saved 

the lives of many Americans. Biologic drugs are protein-based and derived from living matter or 

manufactured in living cells using recombinant DNA biotechnologies. The therapeutic proteins 

that form the basis of these biologic drugs are far more complex and much larger than the 

chemically synthesized, small molecules that form the basis of most pharmaceutical products. 

Biologic drug innovations, however, are expensive. As examples, annual treatment for 

breast cancer with the biologic drug Herceptin can cost $48,000 and the annual treatment for 

rheumatoid arthritis with Remicade can cost approximately $20,000. Indeed, in 2007, 

Americans spent $286.5 billion for prescription drugs, $40.3 billion of which was for biologic 

drugs.1 

Questions have arisen whether the price of biologics might be reduced by competition if 

there were a statutory process to encourage “follow-on biologics” (“FOBs”) to enter and 

compete with pioneer biologics once a pioneer drug’s patents have expired. The obvious model 

for such a statute is the Hatch-Waxman Act, which Congress enacted in 1984 to allow the Food 

and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to approve the sale of generic versions of branded drugs, 

among other things.2

 The Hatch-Waxman Act does not apply to biologics, which the FDA 

approves pursuant to the Public Health Safety (“PHS”) Act. Rather, Hatch-Waxman applies 

only to drugs regulated under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FD&C Act”); these 

drugs are generally chemically synthesized, small-molecule products, not biologics. 

Under Hatch-Waxman, competition from generic drugs has substantially reduced 

prescription drug prices and overall prescription drug expenditures, increased access to 

therapeutic drugs for more Americans, and hastened the pace of innovation.3

 In recent years, 

however, several court decisions have permitted “pay-for-delay settlements” that have reduced 

the procompetitive aspects of the Hatch-Waxman Act. The Commission supports legislation to 

prohibit these types of settlements in which the branded manufacturer pays the would-be generic 

 

1 These sales figures are based on wholesale prices reported in the IMS Top Line Industry Data. Press Release, IMS 

Health, IMS Health Reports U.S. Prescription Sales Jump 3.8 Percent in 2007, to $286.5 Billion (March 12, 2008), 

available at http://www.imshealth.com (follow “Press Room” hyperlink; then follow “IMS Health Care Reports 

News Release” hyperlink). 

2 See The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq. (2009), as amended by the Drug Price 

Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (the “Hatch-Waxman Act” or “Hatch-Waxman”) and the 

Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j) (2009) and 35 

U.S.C.A. § 271(e) (2009) [United States Code Annotated]. 

3 See generally Jennifer S. Haas, et al., Potential Savings from Substituting Generic Drugs for Brand-Name Drugs: 

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 1997-2000, 142 ANNALS INTERNAL MED. 891 (June 2005); Wendy H. Schacht 

and John R. Thomas, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress, Report for Congress, Follow-On 

Biologics: Intellectual Property and Innovation Issues, at 4 & 18, 110thCong. (Jan. 17, 2008), available at 

http://www.biosimilars.com/CRS_FOBs.pdf. 

i
entrant to abandon its patent challenge and delay entering the market with a lower cost, generic 

product.4 

Hatch-Waxman does not require generic applicants to duplicate the clinical testing of 

drugs already proven safe and effective. Duplication of safety and efficacy information is costly, 

an inefficient use of scarce resources, and, as the FDA has explained, raises ethical concerns 

associated with unnecessary human testing. 

To be approved under Hatch-Waxman, the applicant must show that its generic drug 

product is “bioequivalent” to (basically, the same as) the branded drug product. A 

bioequivalence showing is much less expensive than the clinical testing required for a branded 

drug product. Because the generic drug is “bioequivalent” to the branded drug, it can be safely 

substituted for the branded drug and expected to be as effective as the branded drug. To take 

advantage of generic competition, states have laws that allow pharmacists automatically to 

substitute a generic for a branded drug, unless a doctor has indicated otherwise. 

The scientific differences between biologic and small-molecule drug products, however, 

complicate efforts to devise an approval process for FOB drugs based on bioequivalence. 

Biologic products are more complex and immunogenic than small-molecule drugs.5 Current 

technology does not yet allow for the creation of an exact replica of a pioneer biologic drug 

product, according to the FDA. In addition, technology is not yet robust enough to determine 

whether an FOB product is “interchangeable” with the pioneer product such that a patient would 

be able to switch between the two products without the risk of an adverse effect. In light of these 

complexities, current legislative proposals permit FDA approval of an FOB drug that is 

sufficiently similar to, but not an exact replica of, the pioneer biologic product.6 A showing of 

similarity is likely to save FOB manufacturers some clinical testing expenses but would require 

substantially more expense than a showing of bioequivalence for small-molecule generic drugs. 

Whether competition between a pioneer biologic and an FOB is likely to be similar to 

competition between a branded and a generic drug is crucial to determining whether legislation 

to foster FOB competition should follow the same model as the Hatch-Waxman Act. Basic 

questions include whether the same issues that prompted provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act 

that restrict entry by generic competitors are likely to be present in the context of FOB 

competition. To answer these questions, the Commission studied how competition between 

 

4 See How Pay-for-Delay Settlements Make Consumers and the Federal Government Pay More for Much Needed 

Drugs: Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Comm. on Energy and 

Commerce, 111th Cong. (2009) (Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/03/P859910payfordelay.pdf. 

5

 Immunogenicity raises safety and effectiveness concerns because of a biologic drug’s ability to stimulate an 

immune response. See Letter from Frank M. Torti, Principal Deputy Comm’r and Chief Scientist, FDA, to Frank 

Pallone, Jr., Chmn., H. Subcomm. on Health, (Sept. 18, 2008) at 1, available at

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/fdabiosimilarrespons20080918.pdf. 

6 See H.R. 1427, 111th Cong. § 3(a) (2009); H.R. 1548, 111th Cong. § 101 (2009). 

ii
pioneer biologics and FOBs is likely to develop to determine whether similar entry restrictions 

would benefit consumers. 

The Commission brings substantial expertise to examining likely models of competition 

and likely competitive effects from particular regulatory schemes.7

 To assist in its study of the 

issues, the Commission solicited two rounds of public comments, conducted a public roundtable 

discussion on November 21, 2008, and accepted additional analysis and comments through May 

2009. This report analyzes and synthesizes the Roundtable discussion, the comments received, 

and relevant economic literature to assess these issues. The Commission’s findings and 

recommendations follow. 

1. Competition Between a Biologic Drug and an FOB is Much More Likely to 

Resemble Brand-to-Brand Competition than the Dynamics of Brand-Generic 

Competition under Hatch-Waxman. 

Pioneer manufacturers, potential FOB manufacturers, and payors were virtually 

unanimous in their predictions that competition from FOB drug entry is likely to resemble brandto-brand competition, rather than brand-to-generic drug competition. Experience to date for two 

markets with both pioneer biologic and FOB competitors (in Europe and the U.S.) confirms that, 

unlike generic drug entry, FOB entry has not resulted in steep price discounting, or rapid 

acquisition of market share, by FOB manufacturers.8

 This finding is true for a number of 

reasons: 

 The substantial costs to obtain FDA approval, plus the substantial fixed costs to develop 

manufacturing capacity, will likely limit the number of competitors that undertake 

entry with FOB products. FOB products are likely to take eight to ten years to develop, 

and their development will likely cost between $100 and $200 million. These amounts differ 

substantially from the product development costs for small-molecule generic drugs, which 

typically take three to five years to develop and cost between $1 and $5 million. 

 Given these high entry costs, FOB entrants are likely to be large companies with 

substantial resources, and it is likely that only two to three FOB entrants will seek 

 

7

 The Commission has reviewed pharmaceutical and biotechnology mergers for over 30 years, and has conducted 

numerous investigations and enforcement actions involving the conduct of branded and generic small-molecule drug 

manufacturers arising in the context of the Hatch-Waxman Act. See http://www.ftc.gov/be/0608rxupdate.pdf. The 

Commission also conducted a detailed empirical study of the experience during the 1993-2001 under the HatchWaxman Act’s procedures designed to facilitate entry of generic drugs. Federal Trade Commission, Generic Drug 

Entry Prior to Patent Expiration: An FTC Study (July 2002). Since 2004, FTC staff has reviewed every drug 

company patent settlement filed under Hatch-Waxman, and issued annual reports on the types of patent settlements 

being undertaken. The reports are available at http://www.ftc.gov/be/healthcare/drug/index.htm. 

8

 Historically, some biologic protein products have been regulated as drugs under the FD&C Act, including insulin, 

and human growth hormones. The FDA has approved six follow-on protein products under the FD&C Act. See

Assessing the Impact of a Safe and Equitable Biosimilar Policy in the United States Hearing Before H. Subcomm. on 

Health and the H. Comm. on Energy and Commerce, 110th Cong. (2007) (statement of Janet Woodcock, Deputy 

Comm’r, Chief Medical Officer, FDA), available at 

http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-he-hrg.050207.Woodcock-testimony.pdf. 

iii
approval to compete with a particular pioneer biologic drug. Current pioneer biologic 

drug manufacturers are likely to become FOB competitors in those markets in which they do 

not currently compete. Moreover, high entry costs are likely to limit FOB drug entry to 

markets with sales in excess of $250 million per year. The small number of likely FOB 

entrants contrasts significantly with the 10 or more generic entrants seen in many markets for 

small-molecule drugs. 

 The lack of automatic substitution between an FOB product and a pioneer biologic 

drug will slow the rate at which an FOB product can acquire market share and thereby 

increase its revenues. In small-molecule drug markets, automatic substitution erodes a 

branded manufacturers’ market share quickly once the first generic product enters the 

market. This situation is unlikely to occur in FOB markets. Unlike small-molecule generic 

drugs, FOB products will not be designated as “therapeutically equivalent” with the pioneer 

biologic drug product. The lack of therapeutic equivalence means that, like pioneer 

manufacturers, FOB manufacturers will have to market their products and negotiate 

individual contracts with purchasers. 

 An FOB drug also may have difficulty gaining market share due to concerns about 

safety and efficacy differences between a pioneer biologic drug and the competing FOB. 

Physicians and their patients who have been taking a pioneer biologic drug may be reluctant 

to switch to an FOB due to a risk that the patients will react differently to the FOB than to the 

pioneer drug. Concerns such as these may limit FOB market opportunities to newly 

diagnosed patients. 

 The specialty pharmaceutical characteristics of FOBs also are likely to constrain the 

ability of an FOB entrant to obtain market share. Specialty drugs, including biologic 

drugs, are commonly used to treat patients with severe, chronic diseases and sometimes fatal 

conditions. These drugs, which are primarily injected or infused, are combined with 

ancillary medical services and products that require specialty training for proper handling and 

administration. Because most biologic products are delivered to patients in clinics, hospitals, 

doctor’s offices, or other medically supervised settings, shifting to another biologic product is 

typically more costly because it requires restocking of inventory and retraining of nurses and 

healthcare providers. 

 Biologic drugs currently are not reimbursed pursuant to strategies that payors often 

use to incentivize the use of lower-priced drugs; this, too, may limit market share 

acquisition by FOBs. Biologic drug products are typically delivered to patients by 

healthcare providers as part of medical treatments (e.g., dialysis treatments or oncology 

treatments) and reimbursed by health insurers as part of patients’ medical benefits rather than 

pharmacy benefits. Consequently, traditional payor strategies to incentivize utilization of 

lower-priced drugs, including the use of co-pays and tiered formularies, are unlikely to apply 

to drive up the market share of FOBs. FOB pricing and market shares also are likely to be 

affected by the reimbursement methodologies used by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 

Services (“CMS”) for infused and injected drugs, which may not effectively drive share to 

lower-priced drugs. 

iv
 As a result of these factors, FOB competition against a pioneer biologic drug is likely to 

develop as follows: FOB entry is likely in biologic drug markets of greater than $250 

million. Only two or three FOB manufacturers are likely to attempt entry for a given pioneer 

drug product. These FOB entrants are unlikely to introduce their FOB products at price 

discounts any larger than between 10 and 30 percent of the pioneer products’ price. 

Although not as steep a discount as small-molecule generic drugs, a 10 to 30 percent discount 

on a $48,000 drug product represents substantial consumer savings. Pioneer manufacturers 

are expected to respond and offer competitive discounts to maintain market share. This price 

competition is likely to lead to an expanded market and greater consumer access. 

Nonetheless, the lack of automatic substitution will slow significant market share acquisition 

by FOB products. As a result, pioneer manufacturers are likely to retain 70 to 90 percent of 

their market share and, therefore, will likely continue to reap substantial profits years after 

entry by FOB drugs. 

2. Existing Incentives that Support Brand-to-Brand Competition Among Biologic 

Drugs – Patent Protection and Market-Based Pricing – Are Likely to be Sufficient 

to Support FOB Competition and Biologic Innovation. 

A legislative process for an abbreviated FDA approval of an FOB is likely to be an 

efficient way to bring FOBs to market because of the time and cost savings it provides. Given 

that FOB competition with a pioneer biologic drug is likely to resemble brand-to-brand 

competition among biologics, the question arises whether provisions that delay FOB entry and 

restrict competition are necessary to benefit consumers. No economic arguments suggest that 

such provisions are necessary to foster pioneer drug innovation or entry of interchangeable 

FOBs. 

Brand-to-brand competition among biologics has developed without any special 

legislative incentives, but rather through reliance on the patent system and market-based pricing. 

Patent protection enables biotechnology firms to increase their expected profits from investments 

in R&D, thus fostering innovation that would not occur without patents’ exclusionary rights.9

 

Market-based pricing allows biologic drug firms to charge prices that reflect the value of the 

drugs to consumers and thus assists firms not only in recouping their substantial investments in 

biologic drugs, but also in receiving accurate market signals about the value of developing 

particular biologic drugs. 

 

Market experience shows that pioneer pharmaceutical and biologic products already 

compete against other branded pharmaceutical and biologic entrants, and this competition 

benefits consumers. Currently, pioneer or first-in-class branded products engage in a race with 

other branded competitors to bring products to market.10 It is likely that FOB competition 

similarly will develop without any special legislative incentives. 

 

9

 F.M. Scherer & David Ross, INDUSTRIAL MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, 3d Ed. 621 (1990). 

10 See Joseph DiMasi & Cherie Paquette, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development, 22 

PHARMACOECONOMICS Supp 2:1-14, 10 (2004 ). Although this study examined pharmaceutical products 

primarily, it included several biologic drugs as well. 

 

v
Indeed, any decision to adopt special legislative incentives that restrict competition may 

harm consumers. The Commission is mindful that the benefits of suppressing rivalry by either 

pioneer or FOB manufacturers are realized by a comparatively small number of firms who fully 

understand the importance of restricting competition. By contrast, the costs of restricting 

competition tend to be spread broadly across a large number of consumers, each of whom suffers 

a comparatively modest penalty compared to the relatively substantial gain realized by 

incumbent producers.11 The phenomenon of highly focused benefits and broadly distributed 

costs gives firms a greater incentive to organize political resources to restrict competition. 

 

a. A Twelve- to Fourteen-Year Exclusivity Period is Unnecessary to Promote 

Innovation by Pioneer Biologic Drug Manufacturers. 

 As explained earlier, pioneer biologic drug manufacturers are very likely to continue to 

earn substantial revenues even after the entry of FOBs. FOBs are unlikely to introduce their 

products at price discounts beyond 10 to 30 percent. Moreover, FOBs are likely to have 

difficulty rapidly growing their market shares as compared to generic small-molecule drug 

products. Indeed, projections are that branded biologic drugs are likely to maintain their firstmover advantages by retaining 70 to 90 percent of their market share years after FOB entry. 

In addition, there is very little data to suggest that biologic drugs under development are 

likely to be unpatentable. Pioneer biologic drugs are covered by more and varied patents, 

including manufacturing and technology platform patents, than small-molecule branded 

products. Moreover, there is no evidence that patents claiming a biologic drug product have 

been designed around more frequently than those claiming small-molecule products. 

 Pioneer biologic manufacturers nevertheless have suggested that Congress institute a 

period of 12 to14 years of branded exclusivity that would begin once a pioneer biologic was 

approved by the FDA.12 During this period, the FDA would be prohibited from approving an 

FOB product that would compete with the pioneer biologic drug. This branded exclusivity 

would be in addition to, and would run concurrent with, a biologic drug’s existing patent 

protection. The economic model put forth by pioneer drug manufacturers to justify this period is 

 

11 See Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Challenges Obstacles Faced by Competition 

Authorities in Achieving Greater Economic Development Through the Promotion of Competition, Contribution from 

the United States (Feb. 5, 2004), available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/1170395/US-Federal-Trade-Commission2004Challenges20Obstacles20aced20by20Competition. 

12 This report uses the term “branded exclusivity” rather than “data exclusivity” because current legislative proposals 

permit an FOB applicant to rely on FDA’s finding or conclusion that an approved pioneer drug is safe and effective. 

This reliance does not involve disclosure to the FOB applicant, or to the public, of the data in the pioneer 

manufacturers’ application. See Letter from Director Steven K. Glason, Center for Evaluation and Research 

(“CDER”), FDA to Petitioners (May 30, 2006) at 6, available at

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/04P0231/04P-0231-pdn0001.pdf. The term “data exclusivity” suggests 

a use of the information that is inconsistent with FDA’s longstanding interpretation of its approval process. 

vi
based on the average time required to recoup the investment to develop and commercialize a 

typical biologic drug (referred to as the “Nature model”).13 

 Congress has implemented exclusivity provisions in the past to encourage the 

development of new and innovative drug products when the drug molecule is in the public 

domain, and therefore not patentable. The Hatch-Waxman Act provides a five-year exclusivity 

period to incentivize the development of new chemical entities and it provides a three-year 

exclusivity period for new clinical investigations of small-molecule drugs. In other instances, 

Congress has implemented an exclusivity period when market-based pricing has not provided 

sufficient incentive to develop drug products for children or small patient populations. 

 Central to each of these exclusivities is a public policy trade-off: a restriction on 

competition is provided in return for the development of a new drug product or new use of an 

existing product. A 12- to 14-year exclusivity period departs sharply from this basic trade-off, 

because it does not spur the creation of a new biologic drug or indication. The drug has already 

been incentivized through patent protection and market-based pricing. 

 The potential harm posed by such a period is that firms will direct scarce R&D dollars 

toward developing low-risk clinical and safety data for drug products with proven mechanisms 

of action rather than toward new inventions to address unmet medical needs. Thus, a new 12- to 

14-year exclusivity period imperils the efficiency benefits of a FOB approval process in the first 

place, and it risks over-investment in well-tilled areas. 

 The Nature model as currently structured contains numerous methodological and 

conceptual weaknesses that render its results too imprecise and non-robust to inform discussions 

about the ideal length of any branded exclusivity period. A model that balances the benefits of 

FOB competition (i.e., lower prices and an increased pace and scope of innovation) with the 

costs of potentially forsaking marginal branded drug development projects would be more 

informative than the Nature model’s approach. 

 Moreover, to the extent that there are new biologic molecules that cannot obtain patent 

protection, an exclusivity period may be warranted. Because there is no evidence about the lack 

of patentability of new biologic products, nor that market forces have been insufficient to 

incentivize their development, the Commission has not recommended a specific length for an 

exclusivity period. 

b. Special Procedures to Resolve Patent Issues Between Pioneer and FOB Drug 

Manufacturers Prior to FDA Approval Are Unnecessary and They Could 

Undermine Patent Incentives and Harm Consumers. 

 Once a pioneer biologic drug manufacturer receives FDA approval and is about to market 

its product, it faces the risk of patent infringement litigation. FOB manufacturers are likely to 

face the same risk. If they believe the patent situation justifies their decisions to launch prior to 

 

13 Henry C. Grabowski, Follow-on Biologics: Data Exclusivity and the Balance Between Innovation and 

Competition, 7 NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY 479, 483 (June 2008). 

vii
resolution of any patent infringement litigation, they will enter once they have received FDA 

approval. If not, they will wait for the patents to expire and then launch their product. Special 

procedures, providing an early start to resolving patent disputes between pioneer and FOB 

manufacturers prior to FDA FOB approval, are not necessary to encourage FOB entry that 

otherwise would not have occurred. 

 Hatch-Waxman’s special procedures for small-molecule drugs provide for an early start 

of patent litigation. Hatch-Waxman procedures have been the subject of extensive litigation, 

unintended consequences, and delayed generic entry. These procedures were designed in 1984 

to address the issue of “judgment proof” generic defendants. In small-molecule drug 

competition, the profits of the alleged infringer (the generic entrant) are substantially less than 

the loss of profits by the branded product manufacturer, because of the substantial price 

differences between branded and generic products. Consequently, especially at the beginning of 

the generic industry in 1984, concerns existed that generic entrants in small-molecule drug 

markets might be unable to satisfy a potential treble damage award for infringing the branded 

manufacturer’s patents. 

 FOB entrants will not be similarly judgment proof. FOB drug manufacturers are likely to 

be many of the same companies that have pioneered biologic drugs; thus, they will have the 

expertise and resources necessary to assess whether to launch their product before any patent 

infringement litigation is resolved, just as they do with a launch of a pioneer branded drug. 

Moreover, FOB manufacturers are highly unlikely to offer steep discounts that could jeopardize 

their ability to pay patent damages. 

 Special procedures are unlikely to be successful in providing patent certainty to the 

parties, because pioneer biologic drugs are covered by more and varied patents than smallmolecule drugs. A special pre-approval patent resolution process is unlikely to succeed in 

raising and resolving all pertinent patent issues prior to FDA approval. Patents claiming the 

pioneer product may issue after a pre-approval process has begun and/or after FDA approval. 

The FOB manufacturer’s application and product also may change during the approval process 

such that starting patent litigation prior to FDA approval would not ensure earlier resolution. 

Moreover, without a mechanism to enforce the rules of a pre-approval resolution process, there is 

no guarantee that litigation started prior to FDA approval will end earlier. In essence, early start 

does not guarantee early resolution. 

 Special procedures also could undermine the innovation incentives that patent protection 

affords pioneer biologic manufacturers. Although special procedures govern patent litigation 

between branded and generic competitors over small-molecule drug products, these procedures 

are the exception, not the norm. 

 Finally, based on the experience under Hatch-Waxman, a pre-approval patent resolution 

process also is likely to lead to consumer harm, including the facilitation of anticompetitive 

conduct that defeats the purpose of starting the patent litigation early. In the Hatch-Waxman 

context, branded manufacturers have used the pre-approval patent regulations to delay generic 

entry. In addition, generic and branded competitors have entered into “pay-for-delay” patent 

settlements that delay entry, not encourage it. It is likely that a pre-approval patent resolution 

viii
process in the FOB context could facilitate collusive agreements and/or provide the pioneer 

biologic drug manufacturer with competitively sensitive information about a significant potential 

competitor to which it otherwise would not have access. 

c. FOB Drug Manufacturers Are Unlikely to Need Additional Incentives to 

Develop Interchangeable FOB Products. 

 

 The question arises whether an FOB manufacturer needs an incentive beyond marketbased pricing to develop an interchangeable FOB drug, such as a limit on when subsequent 

interchangeable FOB drug entry can occur. This limitation would allow the first interchangeable 

FOB manufacturer to recoup its development expenses. Because the market dynamics of FOB 

entry are likely to resemble competition among branded biologic drugs, provisions modeled after 

the Hatch-Waxman Act’s 180-day marketing exclusivity are unlikely to be necessary and, 

indeed, could harm consumers. 

The Hatch-Waxman Act provides a 180-day marketing exclusivity period to the first 

generic drug applicant that seeks FDA approval prior to the expiration of patents relating to the 

branded drug product. No other generic manufacturer may obtain FDA approval to market its 

product until the first generic has sold its product for 180 days or has forfeited its exclusivity 

period. 

 The 180-day exclusivity period incentivizes generic manufacturers to challenge the 

patents claiming a pioneer small-molecule drug product. A court finding of patent invalidity 

benefits not only the challenger, but also subsequent generic applicants whose entry is no longer 

blocked by the patent. Thus, the 180-day marketing exclusivity period prevents immediate freeriding by subsequent generic applicants on a favorable outcome that results from a generic 

applicant’s patent challenge. As subsequent generic firms enter, generic prices can drop to 80 

percent off the branded price, depending upon the number of entrants.14 The exclusivity period 

is supposed to permit the first generic entrant to recoup its patent litigation costs before the 

substantial price drop caused by multiple generic entrants. 

 The competitive dynamics that justified the 180-day exclusivity period for smallmolecule generic drugs are unlikely to be present here, because the entry of a subsequent 

interchangeable FOB is unlikely to cause a substantial price drop due to the high costs of 

developing and manufacturing and FOB. The first interchangeable FOB to enter will continue to 

earn sufficient profits even after entry of subsequent interchangeable products. Thus, market 

opportunities are likely to be sufficient to incentive development of interchangeable FOBs. 

Not only do market dynamics counsel against an FOB exclusivity period, but the 

anticompetitive delay in entry evidenced in small-molecule generic drug markets is likely to 

 

14 See David Reiffen & Michael Ward, “Branded Generics” As A Strategy To Limit Cannibalization of 

Pharmaceutical Markets, 28 MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, 251-265, 264 (2005), available at 

http://ftc.gov/be/healthcare/wp/12_Reiffen_BrandedGenericsAsAStrategy.pdf. 

ix
x

 

repeat if an exclusivity provision for interchangeable FOBs is implemented.15 The current 180-

day exclusivity period exacerbates the problem of “pay-for-delay” settlement that prevents 

generic entry.16 

 Awarding an FOB exclusivity period on a “first-to-approve” rather than a “first-to-file” 

basis does not lessen the potential harm. These anticompetitive consequences are likely to result 

if the period can be extended, the period does not run immediately upon its award, or if a firm 

has the ability to delay triggering the running of the period through, for example, a patent 

settlement, acquisition, merger, or agreement.

15 See FDA, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 180-Day Generic Drug Exclusivity (2001), available at 

http://www.fda.gov/cder/about/smallbiz/generic_exclusivity.htm#COURT (“This 180-day exclusivity provision has 

been the subject of considerable litigation and administrative review in recent years...”). 

16 See How Pay-for-Delay Settlements Make Consumers and the Federal Government Pay More for Much Needed 

Drugs: Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Comm. on Energy and 

Commerce, 111th Cong. (2009) (Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/03/P859910payfordelay.pdf. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................i 

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................1

CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND AND LIKELY MARKET IMPACT 

OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC COMPETITION ..........................3

 I. BACKGROUND..............................................................................3 

 II. THE NEW DRUG AND GENERIC DRUG APPROVAL PROCESS ..............6 

 

 A. New Drug Approval Processes Under the FD&C Act and the PHS Act...6 

 B. Generic Drug Approval Under the FD&C Act..................................7 

 C. Issues in Translating the Generic Drug Approval Process to Biologic 

 Drugs Under the PHS Act...........................................................8 

 III. PHARMACEUTICAL PRICING, MARKET DYNAMICS, AND THE 

 LIKELY COMPETITIVE IMPACT OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS.............10 

 A. Pharmaceutical Pricing and the Effect of Generic Drug Entry...............11 

 B. Likely Market Effects of Biosimilar Entry......................................13 

 1. Fewer FOB Competitors Due to High Barriers to Entry.............14 

 2. Lack of Interchangeability...............................................16 

 3. Specialty Pharmaceutical Characteristics...............................17 

 4. Fewer Payor Strategies to Incentivize Rapid Uptake of FOBs.....17 

 C. Market Experience with Biosimilar Entry......................................19 

 

 1. EPO Market Experience in the European Union.....................20 

 2. HGH Market Experience in the European Union and the 

 United States...............................................................21 

 D. Likely Pricing Effect of Interchangeable FOBs............................... 22 

 E. Conclusions about the Likely Market Impact of FOB Entry.....................23 

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CHAPTER 2 PATENT PROTECTION AND MARKET INCENTIVES 

ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ROBUST 

INNOVATION INCENTIVES AFTER ENTRY OF 

 FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC 

DRUGS.............................................................................25 

 I. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................25 

 II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PATENT PROTECTION TO THE NEW DRUG 

 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS......................................28 

 A. New Drug Research and Development Process...............................28 

 B. The Importance of Patent Protection Incentives for Innovation............30 

 C. Patent Protection in the Biotechnology Industry...............................32 

 1. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Arguments that Patents Are 

 Unlikely to Incentivize Innovation in Light of FOB 

 Competition................................................................32 

 2. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Arguments that Patent Protection 

 Provides Ample Incentives for Innovation............................34 

 D. Patent Protection is Likely to Continue to Provide Strong Incentives for 

 Innovation after Introduction of Follow-On Drug Competition............35 

 III. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS DO NOT SUPPORT A 12- TO 14-YEAR 

 BRANDED EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD..................................................39 

 A. Panelists' and Commenters' Views on the Likely Effects of a Branded 

 Exclusivity Period..................................................................39 

 B. Panelists' and Commenters' Views on the Need for Branded Exclusivity 

 to Incentivize Incremental Innovation...........................................41 

 C. Likely Competition Effects of a Branded Exclusivity Period...............42 

 1. The Innovation Benefits of FOB Competition.......................42 

 2. Actual Pioneer Drug Manufacturer Exclusivity Can Inform the 

 Length of a Branded Exclusivity Period..............................42 

xii
 3. FOB Entry is Unlikely to Occur Immediately Upon Expiration 

 of a Limited Period of Branded Exclusivity..........................43 

 4. Exclusivity Periods Have Been Used When Patent Protection 

Has Been Insufficient to Incentivize and Reward 

Innovation................................................................. 44 

 D. The Nature Model Fails to Inform Reliably the Length of a Branded 

 Exclusivity Period......................................................................45 

CHAPTER 3 COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF A PRE-APPROVAL PATENT 

 RESOLUTION PROCESS.....................................................47

I. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................47 

 II. THE LIKELY EFFECTS OF AN FOB PRE-APPROVAL PATENT 

 RESOLUTION PROCESS................................................................49 

 A. Background on the Hatch-Waxman Pre-Approval Patent 

 Resolution Process................................................................49 

 B. Commenters' and Panelists' Views on the Likely Effects of an FOB 

 Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process.......................................50 

 C. Analysis of the Likely Effects of a Pre-Approval Patent 

 Resolution Process................................................................52 

 1. The Likely Market Impact of FOB Drug Entry Does Not 

 Warrant a Special Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process.........52 

 2. A Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process is Unlikely to 

 Provide Certainty and is Likely to Disrupt Innovation 

 Incentives..................................................................54 

 3. A Pre-Approval Process is Unlikely to be Workable and is 

 Likely to Cause Harm...................................................55 

 a. Notice Provisions are Unnecessary and Could Raise 

 Anticompetitive Concerns.............................56 

 (1). Patents Claiming the Pioneer Drug Product 

 are Publically Available...............................56 

xiii
xiv

 (2). Notice of the FOB’s Application Raises 

 Competitive Concerns..................................57 

b. Identification of a Subset of Patents to Resolve During 

the Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process Defeats the 

 Purpose of a Pre-Approval Resolution Process.............59 

 c. Enforcement Provisions May Harm Innovation 

 and Competition..................................................60 

CHAPTER 4 LIKELY COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF A MARKET 

 EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD FOR FOLLOW-ON 

 BIOLOGICS...........................................................................................65

I. NECESSITY OF AN EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD TO ENCOURAGE 

 DEVELOPMENT OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS..................................66 

II. MARKETING EXCLUSIVITY LIMITED TO INTERCHANGEABLE 

 FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS.............................................................68 

III. ANALYSIS OF LIKELY COMPETITVE EFFECTS OF AN FOB 

 EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD.................................................................69 

APPENDIX A 

APPENDIX B 

APPENDIX C 

APPENDIX D 
INTRODUCTION 

The Commission initiated this inquiry because decisions of regulatory bodies such as 

the Food and Drug Administration substantially shape business rivalry.1 This inquiry is very 

mindful of how innovation in the biotechnology industry is highly dependent on patent 

protection.2

 

Biotechnology innovation is costly and unpredictable, requiring significant amounts of 

investment to test and commercialize new drug products. By preventing rival firms from free 

riding on discoveries, patents allow firms to recoup the substantial capital investments made to 

discover, test, and obtain regulatory approval of new drug products. Patents also are necessary 

to attract the capital to fund high-risk investment in the biotechnology industry.3

 Thus, this 

report approaches this problem by examining the likely competitive effects of a new regulatory 

scheme in the highly risky, costly and time-consuming process of bringing new biologic drugs 

to the market. 

Chapter 1 of this report examines the likely market impact of FOB entry and contrasts it 

to the market impact of small-molecule generic drugs. The Commission is mindful that the 

likely competitive effects of FOB entry are based on the available knowledge of existing 

external market conditions. For example, the likely competitive effects of FOB competition 

could change if technology breakthroughs occur, biosimilar safety issues arise, health insurance 

coverage expands, or payor and reimbursement strategies change, among others. In 

sophisticated industries such as biotechnology, external conditions can and do change and often 

alter expectations of profit-maximizing firms.4

 This industry, however, has shown significant 

ability to adapt and thrive under new market conditions.5 The Commission expects the robust 

and dynamic market conditions of the biologic drug industry to continue with the entry of FOB 

drug products. 

Chapter 2 examines whether in addition to patent protection and market-based pricing, 

pioneer biologic drug products need a branded exclusivity period to promote innovation in 

biologic drug markets. Chapter 3 examines whether special procedures are necessary to resolve 

 

1

 The Commission outlined its preliminary views on the likely effects of an abbreviated regulatory approval 

pathway for biologic drug products in May 2008. See Letter of the Federal Trade Commission to the Honorable 

Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman, Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of 

Representatives (May 2, 2008), available at:

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110-ltr.050208.respto040308.FTC.pdf. 

2

 It is beyond the scope of this report to determine whether a 20-year patent life is the optimal period to incentivize 

innovation in this and other industries that rely on patent protection. 

3 See FEDERAL TRADE COMM’N, TO PROMOTE INNOVATION: THE PROPER BALANCE OF COMPETITION AND PATENT 

LAW AND POLICY (2003), Ch. 3 at 1, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/10/innovationrpt.pdf. 

4 See Charles E. Phelps, Managing the Market: Regulation and Technical Change in Health Care, HEALTH 

ECONOMICS, at 498-546 (3rd ed. 2003). 

5 See Iain M. Cockburn, The Changing Structure of the Pharmaceutical Industry, 23 HEALTH AFFAIRS 1:10-22, 14 

(2004). 

1
2

potential patent disputes between pioneer and FOB manufacturers prior to FDA approval of an 

FOB drug product. Chapter 4 examines whether market profits are insufficient to incentivize 

the development of interchangeable FOB products. 

 The FTC appreciates the 29 comment filers and 30 panelists who contributed time, 

effort, and thoughtful analysis to these issues before, during, and after the public roundtable 

discussion. We also are grateful for the intellectual property and economic experts proffered 

by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers. 
CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND AND LIKELY MARKET IMPACT 

 OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC COMPETITION

I. BACKGROUND 

Innovations in biotechnology have improved medical treatments, reduced 

suffering, and saved the lives of millions of Americans. The lure of patent protection, 

coupled with the ability to price at market rates, has spurred pioneer drug manufacturers 

to develop new therapeutic drugs known as biologics.1 The Food and Drug 

Administration (“FDA”) approves biologic drugs under the Public Health Safety Act 

(“PHS Act”). 

These innovations, however, are expensive. As examples, annual treatment for 

breast cancer with the biologic drug Herceptin can cost $48,000 and the annual treatment 

for rheumatoid arthritis with Remicade can cost approximately $20,000. Indeed, in 2007, 

Americans spent $286.5 billion for prescription drugs, $40.3 billion of which was for 

biologic drugs.2

 

In 1984, Congress enacted the Hatch-Waxman Act to allow the FDA to approve 

the sale of generic or follow-on versions of off-patent branded drugs.3 This process 

applies to drugs regulated only under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FD&C 

Act”), which are generally chemically-synthesized, small-molecule products. It does not 

apply to drugs approved under the PHS Act. 

Under Hatch-Waxman, generic applicants are not required to duplicate the 

clinical testing of drugs already proven safe and effective. Rather, to be approved, the 

applicant must show that its generic drug product is the same as the branded drug 

product. A bioequivalence showing is much less expensive than the clinical testing 

required for a pioneer branded drug product and thus, is an efficient way to leverage 

scarce research and development (“R&D”) funds to target innovative drug development. 

 

1

 Biologic drugs are derived from living matter or manufactured in living cells using recombinant DNA 

biotechnologies. See FDA Center for Biologic Drug Evaluation and Research (CBER), Frequently Asked 

Questions About Therapeutic Biologic Drug Products, available at

http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/qa.htm. 

2 These sales figures are based on wholesale prices reported in the IMS Top Line Industry Data. Press 

Release, IMS Health, IMS Health Reports U.S. Prescription Sales Jump 3.8 Percent in 2007, to $286.5 

Billion (March 12, 2008), available at http://www.imshealth.com (follow “Press Room” hyperlink; then 

follow “IMS Health Care Reports News Release” hyperlink); see also CONG. BUDGET OFFICE (“CBO”)

110TH Cong., BUDGET OPTIONS VOL.1: HEALTH CARE at 126-28 (2008), available at

http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf [hereinafter, “BUDGET OPTIONS”]. 

3 See The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301, et seq. (2009), as amended by The 

Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 [hereinafter, the “Hatch-Waxman Act” 

or “Hatch-Waxman”] and the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, 

21U.S.C.A. § 355(j) (2009) and 35 U.S.C.A. § 271(e) (2009). See Appendix B for a description of the new 

and abbreviated drug approval processes. 

3
Competition provided by the generic drug industry has reduced prescription drug prices, 

increased access for more Americans, and hastened the pace of innovation.4 

There is no similar approval process for biologic drugs.5

 Rather, once a biologic 

drug product’s patents expire, the follow-on applicant must duplicate the clinical testing 

of the pioneer biologic drug. This duplication of safety and efficacy information is 

costly, an inefficient use of scarce resources, and, as the FDA has explained, raises 

ethical concerns associated with unnecessary human testing. 

 The desire to avoid these consequences by creating an approval process for 

follow-on biologic (“FOB”) drugs takes on urgency in light of the significant number of 

biologic drugs that go off-patent within the next several years. Figure 1-1 shows the 27 

top selling biologic drug products, many of which go off patent by 2015.6

 The drugs 

listed comprise approximately 87 percent of the total global value of the biologics 

industry of $112 billion. 

 

4 See generally Jennifer S. Haas et al., Potential Savings from Substituting Generic Drugs for Brand-Name 

Drugs: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 1997-2000, 142 ANNALS INTERNAL MED. 891 (June 2005); 

Wendy H. Schacht & John R. Thomas, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress,

Report for Congress, Follow-On Biologics: Intellectual Property and Innovation Issues, at 4 & 18, 110th

Cong. (Jan. 17, 2008), available at http://www.biosimilars.com/CRS_FOBs.pdf. 

5 See Assessing the Impact of a Safe and Equitable Biosimilar Policy in the United States Hearing Before 

H. Subcomm. on Health and the H. Comm. on Energy and Commerce, 110th Cong. (2007) (statement of 

Janet Woodcock, Deputy Comm’r, Chief Medical Officer, FDA), available at 

http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-he-hrg.050207.Woodcock-testimony.pdf [hereinafter, 

“Woodcock Statement”]. Historically, some biologic protein products have been regulated as drugs under 

the FD&C Act. The FDA has approved six follow-on protein products under the FD&C Act, including 

Hylenex (hyaluronidase recombinant human), Hydase (hyaluronidase), Fortical (calcitonin salmon 

recombinant) Nasal Spray, Amphadase (hyaluronidase), GlucaGen (glucagon recombinant for injection), 

and Omnitrope (somatropin [rDNA origin]). Id. 

6 See Bernstein Research Comment (9/29/08) at 2; Biotechnology Industry Organization (“BIO”), Health 

Overview, available at http://www.bio.org/healthcare (last accessed June 8, 2009); CBO, BUDGET OPTIONS

at 126; Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 5 and Attachment 1. Patent expiration information 

was obtained from SEC form 10-K filings. FDA maintains a searchable catalog of approved drug products 

including drug approval history. See, Drugs@FDA, available at 

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/Scripts/cder/DrugsatFDA.

4
Figure 1-1: Top-Selling Biologic Products (estimates of peak sales in billions)

Drug 2008 

Sales 

Year 

Approved 

Drug 2008 

Sales 

Year 

Approved 

Drug 2008 

Sales 

Year 

Approved 

Avastin $9.2 2004 Novolog $3.7 2000 Rebif $1.7 2002 

Enbrel $8.0 1998 Erbitux $3.6 2004 Cerezyme $1.5 1994 

Remicade $7.9 1998 Aranesp $3.2 2001 Tysabri $1.4 2004 

Humira $7.3 2002 Recombinate $2.9 1998 NovoSeven $1.4 1999 

Rituxan $7.3 1997 Lucentis $2.7 2006 Synagis $1.3 1998 

Herceptin $5.7 1998 Avonex $2.6 1996 Neupogen $1.3 1991 

Lantus $5.1 2000 Novolin $2.5 1991 Betaseron $1.2 1993 

Epogen/ 

Procrit $5.1 1989 Humalog $2.2 1996 Humulin $1.1 1992 

Neulasta $4.2 2002 PEGASYS $2.0 2002 Kogenate FS $1.1 1993 

The scientific differences between biologic and small-molecule drug products, 

however, complicate efforts to devise an approval process for FOB drugs. Biologic 

products are more complex and immunogenic than small-molecule drugs.7

 Current 

technology does not yet allow for the creation of an exact replica of a pioneer biologic 

drug product, according to the FDA.8

 In addition, technology is not yet robust enough to 

determine whether an FOB product is “interchangeable” with the pioneer product such 

that a patient would be able to switch between the two products without an adverse effect. 

In light of these complexities, current legislative proposals permit FDA approval 

of an FOB drug that is sufficiently similar to, but not an exact replica of, the referenced 

branded biologic product.9

 A showing of similarity is likely to save clinical testing 

expenses but would require substantially more expense than a showing of bioequivalence 

for small-molecule generic drugs. Unlike small-molecule drugs, FOB products would 

not be designated as “therapeutically equivalent” with the referenced product. The lack 

of therapeutic equivalence means that a pharmacist may not substitute prescriptions for a 

pioneer product to an FOB product without physician consent. As technology and 

scientific understanding develops, however, the approval process could provide a means 

by which an FOB applicant could show that its product is interchangeable with the 

pioneer product. 

 

7

 Immunogenicity raises safety concerns because of a biologic drug’s ability to stimulate an immune 

response. An immune response to a therapeutic protein can range from development of detectable but not 

clinically significant antibodies to an immune response with significant impact on safety or effectiveness, 

including the potential to decrease or block the clinical effect of the therapeutic protein. See Letter from 

Frank M. Torti, Principal Deputy Comm’r and Chief Scientist, FDA, to Frank Pallone, Jr., Chmn., H. 

Subcomm. on Health, (Sept. 18, 2008) at 1, available at

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/fdabiosimilarrespons20080918.pdf. 

8 Id. at 4; Woodcock Statement at 1 (“[T]he idea of sameness, as the term is used in the generic drug 

approval process under the [FD&C] Act and applied to small-molecules, will not usually be appropriate for 

more structurally complex molecules of the type generally licensed as biological products under the [PHS] 

Act.”). 

9 See H.R. 1427, 111th Cong. § 3(a) (2009); H.R. 1548, 111th Cong. § 101 (2009). 

5
In the current legislative debate, questions have arise over whether the same 

issues that prompted provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act that restrict entry by generic 

competitors are likely to be present in the context of FOB competition. To answer these 

questions, the Commission initiated a public inquiry, including a public workshop and a 

series of public comments, to examine how FOB competition is likely to develop to 

determine whether similar entry restrictions would benefit consumers.10 

This chapter describes the regulatory background necessary to understand how an 

FOB approval process could be used by FOB manufacturers. It then describes the likely 

market impact of FOB entry and contrasts it to the market impact of small-molecule 

generic drugs. This analysis sets the stage for the discussion in Chapters 2 through 4 of 

specific issues regarding how to foster FOB competition to benefit consumers. 

II. THE NEW DRUG AND GENERIC APPROVAL PROCESSES

A. New Drug Approval Processes Under the FD&C Act and the PHS Act 

 To obtain FDA approval of a new small-molecule drug under the FD&C Act or a 

biologic product under the PHS Act, the manufacturer must prove that the product is safe 

and effective. Manufacturers must submit the following information to the FDA for 

approval: 

(a) pre-clinical analytical tests, pre-clinical studies and formulation studies; 

(b) an Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) to initiate human clinical 

testing; 

(c) adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to establish the safety and 

efficacy of the drug for its intended use; 

(d) approval and validation of commercial scale manufacturing facilities used in 

production of the product; 

(e) drug manufacture and analytical methods; and 

(f) proposed product packaging and labeling.11 

 The pre-clinical phase of any new drug development typically identifies 

compounds (either small-molecule or protein-based) that target a particular disease or are 

therapeutically beneficial. Once a lead compound is isolated, the manufacturer conducts 

pre-clinical safety trials, as well as trials in predictive animal models to determine if the 

compound works as expected. This pre-clinical phase typically takes one to five years.12 

 

10 See Notice of Public Workshops and Roundtables and Opportunity for Comment, Emerging Health Care 

Competition and Consumer Issues, 73 Fed. Reg. 51479-51482 (Sept. 3, 2008), available at

http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/hcbio/index.shtml. 11 See 42 U.S.C.A. § 262; 21 U.S.C.A. § 321, et seq. (2009). 

12 See, e.g., Ernst R. Berndt et al., Opportunities for Improving the Drug Development Process: Results 

from a Survey of Industry and the FDA (Nat’l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. W11425, 

2005). 

6
After pre-clinical tests are completed, a drug sponsor submits these results in an IND to 

the FDA before human clinical trials may commence.13

 Clinical trials typically consist of three phases. In Phase I, a small group of 

patients is given the drug to determine if the drug is safe in humans. In Phase II, a small 

sample of the intended patient population is given doses of the drug to provide a 

preliminary assessment of the efficacy of the drug for a specific clinical indication, find 

dose tolerance, and find the optimal dose range. Phase III studies are initiated if Phase I 

and Phase II studies indicate the drug is safe and has some efficacy in the targeted patient 

population. Phase III studies are designed to gather sufficient data in a broad target 

population in order to establish safety and efficacy for a particular indication. 

 The time to conduct these trials varies based on factors such as indication, 

availability of reliable ways to measure efficacy, size of patient populations in the 

clinical trials, ease of patient accrual, as well as a host of other factors. Despite these 

variances, Phase I takes approximately one year, Phase II (including dose ranging 

studies) takes approximately two years, and Phase III takes approximately three years.14 

 

B. Generic Drug Approval Under the FD&C Act 

 Rather than requiring a generic manufacturer to repeat the costly and timeconsuming new drug approval process, the Hatch-Waxman Act permits generic drug 

applicants to file an Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”). The object of the 

ANDA process is to demonstrate that the generic drug product has the same active 

ingredient, route of administration, dosage form, strength, and proposed labeling as the 

branded drug. The ANDA also must contain sufficient information to demonstrate that 

the generic drug is “bioequivalent” to the relevant branded product.15 As a result of 

providing this information, the generic applicant may rely on the FDA’s previous 

findings of safety and effectiveness for the branded drug, and the applicant, therefore, 

does not have to perform its own clinical studies. This reliance allows generic applicants 

to save substantial time and development costs.16 The FDA will deem a generic drug 

product therapeutically equivalent to the branded product. This designation allows the 

generic drug to be automatically substituted by a pharmacist for the branded product. 

 

13 42 U.S.C.A. § 262; 21 U.S.C.A. § 321, et seq.; 21 C.F.R. 601.2; 21 C.F.R. 312 (2009). 

14 See Henry Grabowski et al., The Effect on Federal Spending of Legislation Creating a Regulatory 

Framework for Public Health Service Act Follow-on Biologics: Key Issues and Assumptions, White Paper 

(July 1, 2007) at 8, 25, 27-28, 33 (unpublished paper on file with Analysis Group, Inc.), available at

http://www.analysisgroup.com/analysisgroup/News_Study-Effects-Federal-Spending-Follow-OnBiologics-Legislation.aspx [hereinafter “White Paper”]. 

15 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(A)(iv)(2009). Bioequivalence means that the rate and extent of absorption of the 

generic drug is not significantly different from the rate and extent of absorption of the reference listed drug 

when administered at the same dosage. 

16 CBO, How Increased Competition from Generic Drugs Has Affected Prices and Returns in the 

Pharmaceutical Industr, at ix (1998), available at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/6xx/doc655/pharm.pdf

[hereinafter, “Increased Competition from Generic Drugs”]. 

7
C. Issues in Translating the Generic Drug Approval Process to Biologic 

 Drugs Under the PHS Act 

 The scientific differences between biologic and small-molecule drugs complicate 

efforts to devise an approval process for FOB drugs based on bioequivalence.17 Figure 1-

2 shows the size differences between a typical small-molecule drug and a biologic protein 

and lists some of the complexities surrounding protein drugs. These differences include a 

ten to hundred-fold difference in size. A small-molecule drug, such as a statin (e.g.,

Lipitor, Mevacor), is small (only 400 Daltons) and simple in contrast to a biologic drug. 

A biologic drug is significantly larger (5,000-300,000 Daltons) and has a complex 

structure with three-dimensional folding which performs complex binding, unlike smallmolecules. Any deviation in a biologic protein's structure can result in aggregation, 

incorrect folding and structural anomalies (e.g., truncation, proteolysis and amino acid 

modifications) that can have unexpected effects on efficacy and safety.18 

 Source: Behrman Presentation at 6 

x 

*

Therapeutic protein ~5,000 - 300,000 Da 

Statin ~400 Da Proteins have expected: 

• Size, charge, hydrophobicity 

• Correct folding (S-S bonds) 

• Subunits 

• Glycosylation 

• Bioactivity 

& Unexpected: 

• Aggregation (side effects) 

• Incorrect folding 

• Amino acid modifications 

 - ox, deam, cyc 

• Truncation, proteolysis 

Figure 1-2: Structure of Small-Molecule vs. Protein Drugs 

 

17 Testimony of Rachel Berhman, Associate Comm’r for Clinical Programs, Director of the Office of 

Critical Path Programs, FDA, at FTC Roundtable: Emerging Healthcare Competition and Consumer Issues 

(Nov. 21, 2008) at 10-20, available at http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/hcbio/transcripts/081121biologictranscript.pdf [hereinafter transcript cites are referenced as [last name] at [page]]; Woodcock Statement at 

8-9. 

18 Behrman at 10-20; Rachel Behrman, Follow-on Biologics: A Brief Overview at FTC Roundtable: 

Emerging Healthcare Competition and Consumer Issues (Nov. 21, 2008) at 6 [hereinafter “Behrman 

Presentation”]. 

8
Current limitations in analytical methods make it difficult to characterize and 

compare large molecules to determine their level of sameness. Manufacturing a 

consistent biologic drug product presents additional difficulties.19 In light of these 

challenges, it is unlikely that FOB manufacturers could only use analytic methods to 

show that their FOB products have the same active ingredient as the pioneer biologic 

product, as generic small-molecule drug applicants do pursuant to the Hatch-Waxman 

Act.20 

In light of these complexities, current legislative proposals permit FDA approval 

of an FOB drug that is sufficiently similar to, but not an exact replica of, the pioneer 

product.21 A showing of similarity is likely to save clinical testing expenses but would 

require substantially more expense than a showing of bioequivalence for small-molecule 

generic drugs. The amount of savings, however, may vary depending upon the 

complexity of the pioneer product to ensure that the FOB product is safe, pure and 

potent.22 Although abbreviated compared to a full development program, FOB 

applicants are likely to perform Phase I and Phase III studies, but with fewer patie

FOB manufacturers also must seek approval and validation of their commercial-s

manufacturing facilities at or before initiation of clinical trials.

nts. 

cale 

 

23 For each additional 

indication for which they seek labeling, FOB manufacturers are likely to be required to 

perform Phase I – Phase III clinical testing.24

19 See Woodcock Statement at 8 (“Because of the variability and complexity of protein molecules, current 

limitations of analytical methods, and the difficulties in manufacturing a consistent product, it is unlikely 

that, for most proteins, a manufacturer of a follow-on protein product could demonstrate that its product is 

identical to an already approved product.”); Behrman Presentation at 6; Behrman at 13-20. 

20 See Behrman at 12-13 (“[P]roteins [biologics] . . . are chains of amino acids . . .they can range from very 

simple to extremely complex, and when they're very complex, they are folded; they have things stuck on 

them; they can unfold again; and then they can aggregate.”); see also Norman at 153 (“[T]he chemical 

[small-molecule] compound itself is something that always looks like chicken wire, so it's got a methyl on 

one end and maybe an ethyl on the other, but it's going to look like methyl ethyl chicken wire, and every 

follow-on generic or branded firm] that makes that molecule ... is going to make methyl ethyl.”). 

21 See S. 1695, 110th Cong. (2008); H.R. 1427, 111th Cong. (2009). 

22 See Woodcock Statement at 11 (“When the mechanism of action is well understood and there is a 

significant amount of clinical experience with a product, it may be easier to make a scientific assessment of 

the ability to rely on conclusions about safety and efficacy from a prior application.”). 

23 For a description of the FDA clinical requirements required to approve the first biosimilar product in the 

U.S. see Letter from Director Steven K. Glason, Center for Evaluation and Research (“CDER”), FDA to 

Petitioners (May 30, 2006) at 7, 25 (Novartis’ application for Omnitrope included “CMC[chemistry, 

manufacturing and control], nonclinical pharmacology and toxicology, human pharmacokinetic and 

pharmacodynamic, and clinical safety and effectiveness data,” including 3 Phase III trials), available at

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/04P0231/04P-0231-pdn0001.pdf [hereinafter “FDA’s Second 

Response to Omnitrope CPs”]; see Grabowski, White Paper at 25-26 (“Obtaining approvable [FOB] 

manufacturing capacity may take 3 to 7 years.”). 

24 See Henry Grabowski et al., Entry and Competition in Generic Biologics, 28 MANAGERIAL AND 

DECISION ECONOMICS 439-51 (development time for FOB estimated at 5-8 years, 3 years for preclinical 

9
Unlike small-molecule drugs, FOB products would not be designated as 

“therapeutically equivalent” with the referenced product. The lack of therapeutic 

equivalence means that a pharmacist may not substitute prescriptions for a pioneer 

product to an FOB product without physician consent. The approval process could 

provide, however, a means by which an FOB applicant could show that its product is 

interchangeable with the pioneer product as technology and scientific understanding 

develops. 25 

It also is likely that FOB manufacturers could become innovators. For example, 

they may develop “biobetter” FOB drugs that improve upon the safety and effectiveness 

of the pioneer product. In other instances, FOB firms could develop improved 

manufacturing processes and analytics, resulting in safer biologics manufactured by both 

pioneer and FOB manufacturers, and/or more efficient manufacturing and testing 

methodologies, resulting in lower-priced biologic drugs.26 One commenter suggested 

that the “incentive for enhanced and innovative biologics manufacturing capacity is an 

oft-forgotten but critically-important aspect of innovation, particularly in the context of 

biologics, and it is one that can enable a direct reduction in the cost of goods and an 

increased durability of supply.”27

III. PHARMACEUTICAL PRICING, MARKET DYNAMICS AND THE 

LIKELY COMPETITIVE IMPACT OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS

Pioneer manufacturers, potential FOB manufacturers, and payors explained that it 

is likely that an FOB approval process under the PHS Act will result in the approval of 

biosimilar products, not interchangeable ones. This section describes the likely market 

 work, 2-4 years for clinical trials and 1 year for FDA approval); Grabowski, White Paper at 25-26 (“FOB 

development and trials will likely take 3 to 5 years, and obtaining FDA approval another one and a half to 

two years.”); see also id. at 5, 27-30. 

25 The term “interchangeable” is not currently defined in the PHS Act. Many panelists and commenters 

suggested that interchangeability was unlikely to be possible in the near term. See Buckley at 47 (“In 

Europe, to date 14 countries have ruled that these products are not interchangeable”); see id. at 51; Phillips 

at 103. Participants noted that the European Union (“EU”) member states (including France, Germany, 

United Kingdom, Italy and Spain) have all rejected the practice of substitution of a biologic by the 

pharmacist without the physician’s consent. Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 2-3, 6; Novartis Comment 

(9/29/08) at 2, 16-17; Brugger at 38-39. 

26 See Behrman at 78; see also Momenta Comment (12/22/2008) at 3 (new analytic tools developed by 

Momenta to characterize proteins may provide significant “value and cost savings to the innovator drug 

development process . . . to enhance the quality of their products by more precisely controlling variability 

of a number of attributes in the final drug product . . . and reduce the need for very costly, potentially 

unnecessary clinical trials.”). 

27 Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 3-4; Brugger at 54 (“We’ve developed an innovative analytical approach 

to these complex molecules, both in better understanding the [biologic] product, but also a deeper 

understanding of the manufacturing process.”); see also id. at 55, 79; Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 2. 

10
effects of biosimilar product entry and contrasts it to the market effects of entry by smallmolecule generic drugs. 

A. Pharmaceutical Pricing and the Effect of Generic Drug Entry 

In the United States, a pioneer manufacturer of either small-molecule or biologic 

drugs is free to charge a monopoly price for its product to the extent the market 

conditions permit or it is perceived to offer greater health benefits compared to existing 

drugs or medical treatments.28 Patent-protected drug products also may be able to 

prevent the manufacturer from facing competition, thus enabling the manufacturer to 

charge a monopoly price. 

Manufacturers of small-molecule and biologic drugs market their products 

through a variety of channels including a specialty detail sales force, free samples or 

prescription coupons, medical education and conferences, peer review journal 

publications, direct-to-consumer advertising, and formulary access. Formulary access is 

controlled either by private prescription benefit managers (“PBMs”) for reimbursement 

by health insurance companies or managers for coverage by various public payors (e.g., 

Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicare, state Medicaid programs).29 

Approval of a breakthrough or pioneer drug product is increasingly followed by 

entry of a subsequent branded product(s).30 The head start that the breakthrough product 

has had over subsequent branded products has decreased over the past three decades from 

8.2 years during the 1970s to 2.25 years in the 1990s.31 

 

28 See FEDERAL TRADE COMM’N, PHARMACY BENEFITS MANAGERS: OWNERSHIP OF MAIL ORDER 

PHARMACIES, (August 2005) [hereinafter “FTC PBM REPORT”] at 63, available at 

http://www.ftc.gov/reports/pharmbenefit05/050906pharmbenefitrpt.pdf. 

29 Generally, each PBM negotiates with branded drug manufacturers for discounts or market share 

payments that are based on the branded drug’s preferred status on the PBM’s drug formulary or on the 

branded drug’s market share among the PBM’s members. Branded drug manufacturers make these 

payments to encourage the PBM to dispense their branded drugs rather than competing branded products 

within a therapeutic class. Drug formularies are used primarily for drugs dispensed in a retail pharmacy 

environment. See FTC PBM REPORT, Ch. 1 at 4, 6. 

30 Joseph A. DiMasi & Cherie Paquette, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development, 22 

PHARMACOECONOMICS Supp 2:1-14 (2004) (The study included several biologic drugs). In the 1990s all of 

the breakthrough products had branded competitors in clinical development at or before their approval; id.

at 10. 

31 Id.; F.M. Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty in Pharmaceutical Development 13 (FACULTY RESEARCH 

WORKING PAPERS SER., HARV.UNIV., JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOV’T, 2007), available at

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP07-039/$File/rwp_07_039_scherer.pdf. 

11
When the FDA approves a branded competitor, price competition ensues, market 

size expands, and market share shifts among the competitors.32 Brand-to-brand 

competition results in negotiated price discounts in the range of 18 to 27 percent off the 

pioneer’s product price.33 Brand-to-brand competition also expands the market (in units 

and dollars) for a therapeutic class of drugs by increasing awareness of conditions and 

treatments from increased detailing, advertising, and marketing, as firms compete to 

influence physician prescribing behavior in favor of their brands.34 Price competition 

among branded firms therefore increases access for patients. 

For drugs approved under the FD&C Act, generic entry occurs when patent 

protection ends35 (either at patent expiration or by a court finding of non-infringement or 

invalidity). The number of generic entrants after patent expiration is largely a function of 

fixed entry costs compared to the market opportunity.36 The first generic entrant 

generally offers a price that is 25 percent lower than the branded drug’s price. The price 

discount can rise to 80 percent with multiple generic entrants.37 

 

32 See FEDERAL TRADE COMM’N, TO PROMOTE INNOVATION: THE PROPER BALANCE OF COMPETITION AND 

PATENT LAW AND POLICY (2003), Ch. 2 at 11 [hereinafter “FTC PATENT REPORT”], available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2003/10/innovationrpt.pdf; FTC/DOJ HEALTH CARE REPORT, Ch. 6 at 3-9. 

33 Although the competing branded product's list price, including Average Wholesale Price (“AWP”) or 

Wholesale Acquisition Cost (“WAC”), is typically at parity, the firms compete by offering price discounts 

to the largest, most sophisticated, and price sensitive customers, such as PBMs. These discounts are 

confidential. See IMPROVING HEALTH CARE: A DOSE OF COMPETITION: A REPORT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE 

COMM’N AND THE DEP’T OF JUSTICE (July 2004), Ch. 7, at 11-17, available at

http://www.ftc.gov/reports/healthcare/040723healthcarerpt.pdf [hereinafter “FTC/DOJ HEALTH CARE 

REPORT”]; see also DiMasi and Paquette, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development,

at 12 (average discount offered by subsequent branded rivals were 26% off price leader and 14% off the 

class average); CBO, Increased Competition from Generic Drugs, at 24-25. 

34 See FTC/DOJ HEALTH CARE REPORT, Ch. 6-7; FTC PATENT REPORT, Ch. 2, at 11. 

35 In general, if the patent application was filed after June 7, 1995, the patent expires 20 years from the date 

on which the application was filed. 35 U.S.C.A. § 154(a)(2)-(3) (2009). If the application was filed by June 

7, 1995 and issued after June 7, 1978, the term is the later of 17 years from issuance or 20 years from filing. 

35 U.S.C.A. § 154(c). If the application was filed by June 7, 1995 and issued before June 8, 1978, the 

expiration date was 17 years from issuance, i.e., 1995 or earlier. 

36 Generally, the number of generic entrants increases with the market size. In one study of the 40 oral 

small-molecule drugs with patent expiry between 1992 to1998, an average of 12 generic firms entered 

when the market size before patent expiry was over $250 million. In comparison, when market size was 

less than $250 million, only 5 generic firms entered. Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 440, 444-46; 

see also David Reiffen & Michael R. Ward, Generic Drug Industry Dynamics, 87 REVIEW OF ECONOMICS 

AND STATISTICS, 37–49, 38 (2005) (“more firms enter, and enter more quickly, in markets with greater 

expected rents”), available at http://www.ftc.gov/be/econwork.htm.

37 See Reiffen, Generic Drug Industry Dynamics; see also CBO, Increased Competition from Generic 

Drugs, at 28; Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 444, 446 (economic analysis concludes that 1 generic 

entrant results in discounts of 10%, 5 generic firms 37%, 5 entrants 40%, 10 entrants 60%, and 95% after 

20 entrants); Grabowski, White Paper at 42-44, 52-53; OTA, Pharmaceutical R&D, at 297; Roy Levy, THE 

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: A DISCUSSION OF COMPETITIVE AND ANTITRUST ISSUES IN AN ENVIRONMENT 

OF CHANGE (1999) at 73-76, 197 [hereinafter “LEVY REPORT"], available at 

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2006/07/P052103BarrierstoGenericEntryTestimonySenate07202006.pdf. 

12
Marketplace experiences have documented the rapid erosion of a branded drug’s 

sales once the first generic product is introduced.38 The rapid decline of the branded 

product’s market share is largely a function of state substitution laws and price sensitive 

customers’ use of drug formularies.39 State substitution laws allow a pharmacist to 

dispense a generic drug when presented with a prescription for its branded equivalent, 

unless the physician or consumer directs otherwise. In addition, PBMs and retail 

pharmacies have substantial incentive to dispense generic drugs because the margins on 

generic drugs are greater than they are for branded products, resulting in greater profits 

for PBMs and retail pharmacies.40 These two factors enable the generic entrant to erode 

a majority of the market share of the branded product within the first year.41 When

additional generic firms enter, they compete against incumbent generic firms for market 

share, not the branded manufacturer, because the first generic firm has already obtained 

most of the branded manufacturer’s sales. 

 

B. Likely Market Effects of Biosimilar Entry 

Competition from FOB drug entry is likely to resemble brand-to-brand 

competition rather than generic drug competition.42 Experience to date for two products 

38 See Grabowski at 42 (generic erosion 90%), Heldman at 26-28 (generic erosion 80%); see also Golding 

at 49, Buckley at 52; Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 444 (brands lose 67% of market share within a 

year); CBO, Increased Competition from Generic Drugs at 29-31; David Reiffen & Michael Ward, 

“Branded Generics” As A Strategy To Limit Cannibalization of Pharmaceutical Markets, 28 MANAGERIAL 

AND DECISION ECONOMICS, 251-65 (2005), available at 

http://ftc.gov/be/healthcare/wp/12_Reiffen_BrandedGenericsAsAStrategy.pdf; Henry Grabowski & John 

Vernon, Longer Patents for Increased Generic Competition in the U.S.: The Hatch-Waxman Act After One 

Decade, 10 PHARMACOECONOMICS supp. 2:110-23 (1996) (brands lost 50% of prescriptions within a year); 

U.S. Cong., Office of Technology Assessment (“OTA”), Pharmaceutical R&D: Costs, Risks and Rewards,

OTA-H-522 (1993), at Table F-3, p. 297, available at http://www.princeton.edu/~ota (Princeton University. 

hosts the OTA legacy site, follow “OTA publications” hyperlink and use search engine there to find article 

by title) [hereinafter “Pharmaceutical R&D”]. 

39 See CBO, Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry at 48 (2006), available at

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/76xx/doc7615/10-02-DrugR-D.pdf; CBO, Increased Competition from 

Generic Drugs, at 27-30; Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 444-45. 

40 See FTC PBM REPORT at x, 12, 74-75. 

41 See Reiffen & Ward, Branded Generics; Grabowski & Vernon, Longer Patents for Increased Generic 

Competition; Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 444. 

42 See Duke University Comment (12/23/08) at Table 3; BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 2; Grabowski White 

Paper at 2, 4-6, 8-9, 40-41, 48; see also Paul Heldman et al., Citigroup Research, Citigroup Global 

Markets, A Global “Generic Biologics” Guidebook at 5 (November 6, 2006)[hereinafter “Citigroup 2006 

FOB Guidebook”]; Safe and Affordable Generic Biotech Drugs: The Need for a Generic Pathway: Hearing 

before the H. Oversight and Gov’t Reform Comm., 110thCong. 1-14 (2007) (statement of Henry 

Grabowski, Duke University), available at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070416132526.pdf; 

Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 448-49 (after extensive economic modeling, the authors conclude 

that and FOB prices relatively close in price to branded biologics); CBO Cost Estimate (S.1695), Biologics 

Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2007 S. 1695, As Ordered Reported by the S. Comm. on Health, 

13
with both branded and FOB competitors (in Europe and the U.S.) shows that four factors 

have dampened substantial price discounting by, and rapid share shifting to, FOB 

manufacturers as compared to the effects of generic drug entry. As a result, branded 

manufacturers are likely to continue to reap profits after FOB entry. 

1. Fewer FOB Competitors Due to High Barriers to Entry 

Fewer FOB competitors are expected due to the technological barriers and the 

high cost of entry.43 FOB products are likely to take eight to 10 years to develop and to 

cost between $100 and $200 million.44 Higher development costs for FOB products, 

compared to small-molecule generic drugs, include those associated with manufacturing, 

clinical trials, and post-marketing surveillance.45 By contrast, small-molecule generic 

drugs product development costs range from approximately $1 to $5 million. 

Follow-on biologic manufacturers will likely have to build, equip and qualify 

their own manufacturing facilities, which is likely to cost $250 to $1 billion.46 

 Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 27, 2007 (June 25, 2008), available at

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/94xx/doc9496/s1695.pdf [hereinafter “S. 1695 Report”]. 

43 See CBO S. 1695 Report at 6 (“CBO expects that certain drugs could face competition from several firms 

by 2018, although we believe it would be more typical for an innovator biologic to face competition from 

between one and three competitors.”); Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 446-47 (because of 

bioreactor capacity constraints and high fixed costs for de novo biologic manufacturing facilities, the 

number of FOB entrants is likely to be smaller than that predicted for generic small-molecule markets for 

the foreseeable future); see also Buckley at 53 (“The number of entrants will certainly be fewer. .. There 

are technological know-how [barriers] . . . the price of clinical trials ... the length of the approval process, 

the likelihood of a successful application . . .and you start to see that the number of players that can submit 

a successful application is just much smaller.”); Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 5; Alhstrom at 44-45; 

Grabowski at 42; Heldman at 25; Lane at 46. The technological barriers to entry vary on the complexity of 

the biological product. Several FOB manufacturers are predicted to be able to obtain FDA approval for 

biosimilar versions of first generation recombinant proteins. However, as the biological products become 

more scientifically complex, as in the case of many of the monoclonal antibodies, the technological barriers 

to entry are so significant that few predict FOB in the next decade. 

44 See Sumanth Kambhammettu, Senior Research Analyst, Frost & Sullivan, The European Biosimilars 

Market: Trends and Key Success Factors, (Oct. 27, 2008)(“average cost of bringing a biosimilar to market 

is around $100-$200 million”), http://www.obbec.com/specialreports/20-biopharmaceuticals/2152-theeuropean-biosimilars-market-trends-and-key-success-factors; CBO S. 1695 Report at 6; Duke University 

Comment (12/23/08) at Table 3; BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 2; Grabowski White Paper at 2, 4-6, 8-9, 40-

41, 48; Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 442; Citigroup 2006 FOB Guidebook at 5; see also Ahlstrom 

at 53; Lane at 40, 46; Zuckerman Comment (12/22/08) at 12. 

45 See BIO Comment (9/30/08) at fn. 2, 1, 9, 17, 20; Grabowski, White Paper; CBO S. 1695 Report at 4-7; 

GPhA Comment (9/30/08) at 3 (citing CBO, Increased Competition from Generic Drugs). 

46 See Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 7; Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 6 (“[T]he cost of manufacturing 

facilities is staggering, and this large investment must be made long before a product is approved by the 

regulatory agencies.”); Henry Grabowski, Follow-on Biologics: Data Exclusivity and the Balance Between 

Innovation and Competition, 7 NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY 479, 483 (June 2008) [hereinafter 

“NATURE”]; Patent Reform Act of 2007: Hearing on H.R.. 1908 Before the H. Subcomm. on Courts, the 

Internet, and Intellectual Property of the H. Comm. on Judiciary, 110th Cong. 65 (2007) (statement of 

14
Additionally, biologic manufacturing is costly, difficult and often requires acquiring or 

duplicating proprietary cell lines that are protected by both patents and trade secrets. 

These barriers further reduce the number of likely successful FOB entrants. 

In addition to the development and manufacturing costs, FOB competitors are 

likely to engage in marketing and sales support for their FOB products.47 These high 

costs are likely to limit FOB drug entry to markets with sales in excess of $250 million 

per year.48

In light of these high entry costs, FOB entrants are likely to be large companies 

with substantial resources. Current biologic drug manufacturers are likely to become 

FOB competitors in those markets in which they do not currently compete. Potential 

FOB entrants could include well-established biotechnology, and hybrid 

biopharmaceutical firms such as: Abbott, AstraZeneca (acquisition of MedImmune and 

CAT), Baxter (acquisition of Knoll), Biogen/IDEC, Eli Lilly (acquisition of Imclone), 

Johnson & Johnson (acquisition of Centocor), Pfizer (recent announced acquisition 

agreement with Wyeth), Roche (acquisition of a majority interest in Genentech), Novo 

Nordisk, and Sanofi-Aventis.49 

FOB firms in Europe who have an interest in developing FOB products for the 

U.S. market include: Novartis (including its generics division Sandoz), Teva, Hospira 

(partnering with German generics firm Stada), and Momenta (partnering with Novartis). 

Additionally, commenters recognized branded pharmaceutical firms such as Merck, 

Boehringer Ingelheim, and Wyeth.50

 Kevin Sharer, Amgen, Inc. ("Amgen" CEO), available at

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/April2007/Sharer070426.pdf. (“It takes approximately 5 years and $1 

billion to build a factory to produce biotech medicines.”). FOB manufacturers will likely have to develop 

their own in-house manufacturing because the worldwide capacity constraints puts greater leverage in the 

hands of contract manufacturers to seek maximum profits by maintaining their relationships with branded 

firms and the highest revenue producing branded products. Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 442.

47 See Lane at 35-36; Urlep at 34. 

48 Janet Woodcock et al., The FDA’s Assessment of Follow-On Protein Products: a Historical Perspective, 

6 NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY 437-42 (June 2007); Grabowski, Entry and Competition, at 446 

(only 3 entrants predicted in markets where the branded biologic has sales over $1 Billion). 

49 See Natasha Singer, Bristol-Myers’s Reliance on Three Drugs Casts Doubt on Strategy, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 

27, 2009, at B3 (listing recent biopharmaceutical acquisitions); Andrew Jack, Sanofi-Aventis Ready to Join 

Pfizer on the Acquisition Trail, FINANCIAL TIMES, February 2, 2009 at 13 (“[T]he latest is a spurt of 

consolidation in the pharmaceuticals sector”); Andrew Pollack, Wyeth Deal May Slow Pfizer Biotech 

Acquisitions , N.Y. TIMES, JAN. 26, 2009, at B4 ; (“Schering-Plough's considerable biologics expertise will 

complement Merck's novel proprietary biologics platform”), available at

http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/corporate/2009_0309.html. 

50 See CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 3; Momenta Comment (12/22/2008) at 4; Andrew Jack, 

AstraZeneca Chief Calls the Shots, FINANCIAL TIMES, December 23, 2008 at 18 (“The move is the third 

instance in recent weeks of a large pharmaceutical company [AstraZeneca] that has been traditionally 

focused on developing innovative medicines to express a desire to shift to generic [biologic] medicines.”); 

Susan Todd, Merck Launches Biologic Division Drugmaker to Invest $1.5 B into Venture, NEWARK STAR 

15
 2. Lack of Interchangeability 

The lack of interchangeability and automatic FOB substitution are likely to 

dampen how quickly an FOB manufacturer acquires market share compared to generic 

drug entry.51 In small-molecule drug markets, automatic substitution erodes a branded 

manufacturers’ market share quickly once the first generic product enters the market. As 

more generic products enter, they compete for market share among themselves, as the 

branded manufacturer already has lost its market share to the first generic entrant. This 

situation is unlikely to occur in FOB markets as FOB manufacturers will be required to 

market their products and negotiate individual contracts with purchasers in competition 

with the branded manufacturer’s product.52 FOB market share is likely to depend on: 

order of entry into the market; clinical trial results; size of detailing sales force; direct-toconsumer advertising; and access to formularies, which include price discounts to the 

most sophisticated, price-sensitive customers.53

FOB market penetration also is likely to be hampered by lingering or 

institutionalized uncertainty about interchangeability and safety differences between 

pioneer and FOB products.54 This uncertainty may be heightened if the FOB product 

does not share the same name as the pioneer biologic product.55 Physicians and their 

 LEDGER , December 10, 2008 at 61 (“We anticipate that [Merck] will take a leadership position in followon biologics.”). Merck BioVentures is developing an FOB equivalent to Amgen's Aranesp which Merck 

expects to launch in 2012 to be followed by five more FOBs of several best-selling biologic drugs due to 

lose patent protection by 2017. On November 24, 2008, Eli Lilly and Company acquired the biologic 

company Imclone, the biologic manufacturer of Erbitux (with global sales of $3.6 billion) for $6.5 billion 

beating out Bristol-Myers Squibb. Press Release, Eli Lilly & Co., Lilly to Acquire Imclone Systems in 

$6.5 Billion Transaction, (October 6, 2008), available at 

http://newsroom.lilly.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID+338523. In June 2007, AstraZeneca completed its 

$15 billion acquisition of MedImmune. AstraZeneca, Annual Report and Form 20-F Information, at 83-84 

(2007); Bernstein Research Comment (9/29/08) at 2. 

51 See, e.g., CCPM Comment (9/30/08) at 3 (“In the absence of a designation as interchangeable, it likely 

will take longer for the [biosimilar] to garner significant market share and brand manufacturers will have 

less incentive to compete based on price.”); see also CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 4. 

52 See, e.g., Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 5 (“Without an “interchangeable designation, 

biosimilar companies would be compelled to invest significant sums to market and promote biosimilars, 

thus driving up the cost to the consumer. Reference companies also would have less incentive to compete 

on price. Reference drug companies would be more likely to try to out-market the biosimilar companies, 

further driving up the costs of both the reference drug and market entry by the biosimilar.”). 

53 See supra notes 35-40 and accompanying text regarding negotiated price discounts for different 

purchasers. 

54 See Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 2-3; BIO Comment (12/22/08); Ahlstrom at 43. 

55 Generally, the FDA approves the use of the same name for a generic small-molecule as the reference 

branded drug because both products share the same the active ingredient. In contrast, an FOB drug 

manufactured by a different process than the reference branded biologic drug may share the same 

mechanism of action, may share the same efficacy and side effects, and may even be considered or 

approved as interchangeable with the reference branded biologic drug but may still not be given the same 

name as the brand. See Horton at 98; BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 4; PCMA Comment (9/26/2008) at 5; 

16
patients who have been safely taking a pioneer biologic drug product may be reluctant to 

switch to an FOB product because of the risk that the patient will react differently to the 

new drug.56 These concerns may limit the FOB market opportunities to newly diagnosed 

patients or patients who had not improved by using the pioneer biologic drug. These 

concerns may dissipate as providers become more experienced with FOBs.57 

3. Specialty Pharmaceutical Characteristics 

 The specialty pharmaceutical characteristics of FOB drugs also are likely to 

constrain market share acquisition.58 Specialty drugs, including biologic drugs, are 

commonly used to treat patients with severe, chronic diseases and sometimes fatal 

conditions. These drugs, which are primarily injected or infused, are combined with 

ancillary medical services and products which require specialty training for proper 

handling and administration.59 Because most biologic products are delivered to patients 

in clinics, hospitals, and doctor’s offices, or other medically-supervised settings, shifting 

to another biologic product is typically more costly because it requires restocking 

inventory and retraining nurses and healthcare providers.60 

 4. Fewer Payor Strategies to Incentivize Rapid Uptake of FOBs 

 Biologic drug products are typically delivered to patients by healthcare providers 

as part of medical treatments (e.g., dialysis treatments or oncology treatments) and 

reimbursed by health insurers as part of patients’ medical benefits rather than the 

pharmacy benefits. This situation contrasts with small-molecule drug products which are 

dispensed by pharmacists to the patients and reimbursed by the insurance providers as 

 FDA Considerations: Discussion by National Regulatory Authorities with World Health Organization 

(WHO) On Possible International Non-proprietary Name (INN) Policies for Biosimilars (Sept 1, 2006) 

(“The world community may ultimately decide that INN policy for this class of products should be treated 

differently than that for small-molecule drugs.”), available at

http://www.fda.gov/cder/news/biosimilars.htm. 

56 CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 4 (“Given the uncertainty surrounding the equivalence of 

innovator and follow-on biologics, PBM, payors and physicians are more likely to be focused on clinical 

information and dialogue about the prudence of switching to a particular follow-on biologic or innovator 

drug. This ad hoc, non-uniform approach will ultimately drive the adoption of follow-on biologics, but at a 

pace than seen with generic small-molecule drugs.”). 

57 Id. 

58 CBO S. 1695 Report; Ahlstrom at 43. 

59 Golding at 64-65; CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 1. Specialty pharmaceuticals often are 

distributed in separate channels to preserve the viability and safe administration of the products. 

60 Golding at 64-65. 

17
part of the patients’ pharmacy benefit.61 

 Traditional payor strategies used to manage pharmacy benefits that incentivize 

rapid shifting of patients from branded drugs to lower-priced generic drugs – for 

example, by requiring higher co-pays from patients for drugs off the formulary – are 

likely to be of limited use for biologic drugs. Consequently, payors will have fewer 

strategies to incentivize the rapid uptake of lower-priced FOBs, especially biosimilars.62 

In addition, the reimbursement methodologies used by Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services (“CMS”) for biologic drugs are likely to be important factors affecting 

the market impact of FOBs and pricing of FOBs.63

Because of these four characteristics, payors, branded manufacturers, and FOB 

manufacturers forecasted that pioneer manufacturers are likely to maintain market share 

for several years even after FOB entry. They predicted that market share acquisition by 

FOBs would be modest, lagging substantially behind the sometimes blistering 

competitive pace established by generic small-molecule entrants.64 Several commenters 

 

61 For example, costs for senior citizens for biologic drugs are generally reimbursed under Medicare Part B, 

rather than Part D. See CBO BUDGET OPTIONS at 106, 126-27; AARP Comment (12/22/08) at 1; CVS 

Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 7. 

62 Alhstrom at 43-45 (noting that insurance plans and PBMs immediately cover generic drugs and 

immediately implement tools to switch their patients from the brand to the generic small-molecule drug 

which results in the 80-90% share shift to generics a market dynamic that she does not predict will be 

duplicated in the biologic-FOB market experience any time in the near future.”); Buckley at 47 (“It’s going 

to be the decision of the physician and the patient as to whether or not a drug will be substituted for a 

therapy that they may already be on or a therapy that they may be considering taking.”); see also Golding at 

49. 

63 Mylan Comment (1/5/09) at 5-6. In contrast to the authority CMS has to incentivize the use of generic 

small-molecule products, currently, there is no express statutory authority for the CMS to reimburse FOBs 

in such a way as to incentivize utilization of the lowest priced biologic product. CVS Caremark Comment 

(12/22/08) at 7; Miller at 213-14. The Congressional Budget Office has indicated that a change to the 

Medicare Part B reimbursement methodologies would be needed to maximize savings from FOB products. 

See generally CBO BUDGET OPTIONS; CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 7; Heldman at 29-31 (“The 

current formula under Medicare provides a financial incentive for physicians and hospitals, when using the 

drugs in an outpatient setting to use the higher cost drugs...because Medicare reimburses at the average 

sales plus a 6 percent markup. In addition, current law requires Medicare [to give] a follow-on biologic that 

the FDA doesn’t deem interchangeable . . . a separate billing code....”); Amgen, Inc. v. F. Hoffmann-La 

Roche Ltd.., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77343 at *169-73 (D. Mass. Oct. 2, 2008) (noting that the court could 

not conclude that entry by Roche’s branded EPO biologic drug, Mircera, would reduce Medicare Part B 

reimbursement for EPO drugs). 

64 CVS Caremark Comment (12/22/08) at 4; Buckley at 52-53; Bernstein Research Comment (9/29/08) at 

1-2; BIO Comment (9/30/08) at fn. 2.; Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 5 (“The combination of these factors 

will make it very unlikely that biosimilar products will bring about the price differential that generic 

products do.”); Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 3 (“The likely competitive effect of a follow-on biologic 

entering the market is the gradual reduction in prices of the biologic.”); Hospira Comment (9/30/08) at 1 

(“The best estimate is that the biosimilar EPOs [in the EU] appear to be priced approx 25 - 30 percent 

below the innovator’s price prior to the entry of any biosimilar.”); CCPM Comment (9/30/08) at 2 

(“According to the March, 2008, edition of the Red Book, Omnitrope's price is a 34% discount from the 

original product.”); Grabowski, White Paper at 6 (“The extent of entry will likely be much lower for FOBs 

18
concluded that uptake of FOBs will likely be “slower and less extensive than for many 

small-molecule drugs.”65 They estimated that the uptake for FOBs will range between 10 

percent and 30 percent.66 They also noted that the market share uptake of FOBs will be 

correlated to the price which in turn is affected by the sums needed to generate clinical 

trial data required by the FDA to obtain approval.67 

Panelists noted that as the market gained positive experience with FOBs, market 

uptake of FOBs could increase.68 Conversely, they also predicted that if the market had 

negative experiences with FOBs from safety or efficacy issues (immunogenicity, heparin 

like contamination or problems akin to the generic drug scandals of the 1980’s), then 

FOB uptake could also be significantly dampened.69 

C. Market Experience with Biosimilar Entry 

Market experience with both pioneer and FOB competitors confirms that FOB 

competition is likely to resemble branded competition rather than generic competition as 

seen for small-molecule drug products. The European Union adopted an approval 

process for follow-on biologics in 2004.70 To date, the European Medicines Agency has 

approved biosimilars for three products: (1) EPO (erythropoeitin stimulating agent or 

“ESA”) to treat anemia; (2) human growth hormone (“HGH”) to treat children with small 

stature, and other conditions associated with deficiencies of the naturally occurring 

hormone; and (3) G-CSF (Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor) to stimulate 

production of white blood cells needed to fight infection. In the U.S., the FDA has 

 than for conventional generic drugs, reflecting differences in market size and high fixed costs of entry for 

many biologics. Average price effects and rates of FOB uptake for innovator products are likely to be 

limited in the short run due to the low number and timing of entry of FOBs, limitations to perceived 

substitutability between innovator biologics and FOBs on the part of physicians and patients, incentives for 

limited price-based competition between FOBs and innovator products....”); Grabowski, Entry and 

Competition, at 449. 

65 See Grabowski, White Paper at 2. 

66 Id.; Heldman at 25, 27. 

67 Heldman at 25, 27; Brugger at 39; Urlep at 56 (“We have to invest into primary marketing to overcome 

this with our data, which we created during the development programs.”); Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment 

(12/22/08) at 2 (“Without an ‘interchangeable’ designation, biosimilar companies would be compelled to 

invest significant sums to market and promote biosimilars, thus driving up the cost to the consumer.”). 

68 Grabowski at 42. 

69 Brugger at 74. 

 

70 Linda Horton, The European Experience with Follow-on Biologics Legislation at FTC Roundtable: 

Emerging Healthcare Competition and Consumer Issues (Nov. 21, 2008) at 3 [hereinafter “Horton 

Presentation”].

19
approved two biosimilar HGH products pursuant to the FD&C Act.71 The following two 

sections describe the market competition for EPO and HGH.72

1. EPO Market Experience in the European Union 

Panelists and commenters explained that seven EPO biologic manufacturers 

market their products in Germany, three of which are biosimilars (products 5-7): 

(1) Amgen’s Aranesp, 

(2) Johnson & Johnson’s Eprex/Erypo, 

(3) Roche’s NeoRecormon, 

(4) Roche’s Mircera, 

(5) Hospira’s Retacrit, 

(6) Novartis' Binocrit, and 

(7) Shire's Dynepo.73 

As of November 2008, the multiple biosimilar entrants had attained a combined 

market share in Germany of between 14 to 30 percent with price discounts estimated at 

about 25 percent off the branded price several years after entry.74 The reported results of 

international sales from the first quarter of 2009 appear to confirm that pioneer firms 

retain a significant first mover advantage. For example, Amgen states that Aranesp’s 

 

71 See Appendix B for a discussion of the statutory authority that permits the FDA to approve a limited 

number of biosimilar products under the FD&C Act.

72 Although the E.U. approved biosimilar filgrastim on February 13, 2009, market experience was too 

limited to include in this report. See Press Release, Sandoz, Sandoz Receives European Commission 

Approval for Biosimilar Filgrastim (Feb. 13, 2009), available at 

http://www.sandoz.com/site/en/media_room/press_releases_news/090213.shtml; Hospira Comment (May 

11 2009) at 3, Amgen, Q1 2009 Earnings Call, at 19-20 (April 23, 2009). In Europe, the pioneer G-CSF 

products consist of Amgen’s Neupogen (filgrastim), Amgen’s Neulasta (pegylated filgrastim) and Chugai’s 

Granocyte (lenograstim), while the biosimilar products consist of Teva’s Tevagrastim, Ratiopharm 

Ratiograstim and Ratiopharm filgrastim, CT Arzneimittel’s Biograstim, Novartis’ Zarzio (marketed by 

Novartis’ Sandoz division), and Filgrastim Hexal (marketed by Novartis’ Hexal division). 

73 Hospira, Inc. ("Hospira") and STADA Arzneimittel AG co-market their product Retacrit/Silapo in 

Germany. Market shares for Novartis' Binocrit, Novartis' Epoetin alpha Hexal and Medice' Arzneimittel 

Putter GmbH&Co KG' s Abseamed are represented together. On February 17, 2009, Shire plc. ("Shire") 

discontinued selling Dynepo in Europe for commercial reasons, and its marketing authorization was 

rescinded in March, 2009. See

http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/dynepo/12666909en.pdf.

74 Bernstein Research Comment (9/29/08); Paul Heldman, Follow-On Biologic Market: Initial Lessons and 

Challenges Ahead at FTC Roundtable: Emerging Healthcare Competition and Consumer Issues (Nov. 21, 

2008) at 7 [hereinafter “Heldman Presentation”]; Heldman at 26-27; Lane at 36 (“on a unit basis [we] have 

actually captured 23 percent of the first gen market”); Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 2-3. Some of the 

share estimates differ because some estimates are calculated based on units while others are based on 

different measures of sales. Id. See also Amgen, Q1 2009 Earnings Call, at 19-20 (April 23, 2009). 

20
market share in dialysis patients has increased slightly even two years after biosimilar 

and other branded competitors have entered the market.75 

 2. HGH Market Experience in the European Union and the 

 United States 

Panelists and commenters also discussed the limited price competition and market 

share shift to biosimilars in the HGH markets in the E.U. and U.S. In April 2006, 

Novartis launched its biosimilar HGH product, Omnitrope, which referenced Pfizer’s 

Genotropin, in Germany and Austria. In December 2006, BioPartner launched the 

second HGH product, Valtropin, in the E.U., which referenced Eli Lilly’s Humatrope. 

By leveraging its global R&D, Novartis launched Omnitrope in the United States 

in 2007.76 The second HGH biosimilar entrant in the United States was Teva with TevTropin.

77 There are five other branded HGH products in the U.S. market: 

• Pfizer’s Genotropin 

• Eli Lilly’s Humatrope 

• Novo Nordisk’s Norditropin 

• Serono’s Saizen 

• Genentech’s Nutropin (Genentech, majority-owned by Roche)78 

As of November 2008, combined U.S. market shares of the two biosimilars amounted to 

about four percent.79 Panelists’ best estimates of the price discounts in the U.S. for HGH 

biosimilar drug products ranged from 10 to 40 percent off the branded HGH products’ 

prices depending upon the purchaser, while branded HGH prices had increased.80 As 

 

75 See Amgen, Q1 2009 Earnings Call, at 19-20 (April 23, 2009) (stating that Hospira’s Retacrit and the 

other biosimilars together account for only 5 percent market share). 

76 For a discussion of the novel issues involved with the approval of Omnitrope, see Sandoz, Inc. v. Leavitt, 

427 F. Supp. 2d 29 (D.D.C. 2006); see generally FDA’s Second Response to Omnitrope CPs; Letter from 

Janet Woodcock, Director, CDER, FDA to Petitioners (October 14, 2003), available at 

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/DOCKETS/dailys/03/oct03/102403/03p-0408-pdn0001.pdf [hereinafter “FDA’s 

First Response to Omnitrope CPs”]. When the FDA approved Sandoz’s Omnitrope on May 31, 2006, it did 

not rate Omnitrope as therapeutically equivalent to and automatically substitutable for Genotropin. See

Letter from Paulo Costa, President & CEO, Novartis Corp. to Frank Pallone, Jr., Chmn, and Nathan Deal, 

H. Subcomm. on Health (May 1, 2008) at 9-10, available at 

http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110-ltr.050108.respto040308.Novartis.pdf. 

77 Heldman at 23; Citigroup 2006 FOB Guidebook at 2; Bernstein Research Comment (9/29/08) at 12-13. 

78 Id; FDA’s Second Response to Omnitrope CPs at 7. 

79 Heldman at 28, Heldman Presentation at 3-6. 

80 See Heldman at 28, Heldman Presentation at 3-6; CBO S.1695 Report. Heldman notes that aggressive 

discounts offered in the market to PBMs and other payors are generally non-public and not captured in the 

WAC data available from IMS and other sources. Branded firms compete on prices not by lowering the 

list, WAC or AWP to all customers, but by offering discounts off those prices to the most price sensitive, 

21
discussed above, pioneer manufacturers offer discounts to their most price sensitive, 

sophisticated, and largest purchasers; these discounts are negotiated individually and 

typically are not publicly available.81 Both Novartis and Teva supported their biosimilar 

products with marketing and sales efforts.82 

D. Likely Pricing Effect of Interchangeable FOBs 

Panelists and commenters expressed a range of price discount predictions if and 

when technology allows interchangeable FOBs to enter the market. For ease of 

discussion, some panelists and commenters referred to interchangeable FOBs as 

“biogeneric” drugs. Panelists predicted that if biogeneric applicants could, for example, 

rely on analytical data rather than clinical trials to show equivalent efficacy, and not be 

required to engage additional comparability and immunogenicity trials, then biogenerics 

will generate greater consumer savings than biosimilars.83 And conversely, if a 

biogeneric pathway were more costly and rigorous than the process for new drug 

approvals, panelists predicted no biogeneric FOB entrants would use such a pathway as 

“manufacturers would be better off pursuing a full approval.”84 

 One commenter explained that savings in marketing and selling expenses should 

translate into lower sales price for a biogeneric product than a biosimilar product.85 An 

FOB manufacturer explained that only interchangeable biogeneric, not biosimilar, 

products offer the greatest price competition.86 This increased price competition, 

 sophisticated,and largest purchasers. See Heldman at 24-25; FTC PBM REPORT at 48-54; LEVY REPORT at 

183; see generally CBO, Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry at 48; CBO, Increased 

Competition from Generic Drugs, at 27-30. 

81 See FTC PBM REPORT at 48-54. 

82 See Urlep at 34; Lane at 36. 

83 See Brugger at 74 (“[W]hat is very important to us to make continued investment in this field is a very 

clear path towards interchangeability, and what that does is allows companies like ours to innovate in the 

analytical space and not in the clinical trial space. These clinical trials are a very crude way to detect 

similarities or differences between these very complex molecules, and the way that we will truly 

understand these complex macro molecules in the future is by innovating in this analytical space.”); 

Behrman at 77 (“I couldn't agree ... more that the real advances will come in the analytics and the ability 

to, to the best of our ability, realize how similar or different these products are and may minimize or 

shorten or decrease the extent to which certain types of clinical trials are necessary.”). 

84 Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 3 (“If a company pursuing the development of a 

biosimilar/biogeneric cannot reference any of the innovator’s preclinical or clinical data, there would be no 

incentive to embark on an abbreviated approval pathway.”). 

85 Hospira Comment (9/30/08) at 1; but see BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 3-4 (presumed biogenerics are more 

expensive to get approved and priced higher than biosimilars). 

 

86 GPhA Comment (9/30/08) at 1-2; see also Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 3 (explaining that 

interchangeability would “enable direct, head-to-head competition to occur based on price factoring in the 

front-loaded investment in the research and development of an FOB without the additional cost of a ‘backloaded’ investment in the advertising, promotion, and detailing of an FOB. Consequently, competing 

22
however, is likely to be greater than price competition among biosimilars, but not as great 

as generic drug price competition seen with small-molecule generic drugs.87 

However, at least one panelist disagreed stating, “[i]nterchangeability will not 

necessarily provide greater economic benefit from biosimilar market entry.” He asserted 

that this prediction is erroneous because it is based on the false assumption that 

biogeneric products would be “interchangeable” and approved without more clinical 

testing than biosimilars.88 One commenter stated that not only was biogeneric entry not 

possible, but the effects on cost savings provided by biogenerics were too speculative to 

predict at this point.89

E. Conclusions About the Likely Market Impact of FOB Entry 

An abbreviated approval process for follow-on biologic drugs is likely to be an 

efficient way to bring a biosimilar drug product to market. The FOB applicant can save 

time and money by not engaging in the full pre-clinical and clinical tests and, as a result, 

it can enter the market at a price lower than the pioneer drug product. 

 Competition from FOB drug entry is likely to resemble brand-to-brand 

competition rather than brand-to-generic drug competition for small-molecule products. 

Two or three FOB manufacturers are expected to seek entry in large markets due to the 

significant time and expense expected to develop an FOB drug product. They are likely 

to introduce their drug products at price discounts between 10 and 30 percent of the 

pioneer products’ price to the most price-sensitive customers. Pioneer manufacturers are 

expected to respond aggressively and offer competitive discounts. This price competition 

is likely to lead to an expanded market and greater consumer access. 

The lack of automatic substitution will slow significant market share acquisition 

by FOB products. The difficult and costly administration, training, payment, and 

reimbursement of specialty drugs makes it likely that there will be few entrants, despite 

the multi-billion dollar size market opportunities offered by many biologic products 

losing their patent protection in the next 10 years. Moreover, traditional payor incentives 

used in the retail pharmacy setting, such as co-pay differential and formulary tiering to 

incentivize utilization of low-priced drugs, are unlikely to be used in the specialized drug 

setting in which many biologics are dispensed, such as hospitals and outpatient clinics, 

 FOBs that are designated as interchangeable can be anticipated to achieve more rapid and ultimately more 

substantial market share penetration that those that are not.”). 

87 See Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 6; CBO S. 1695 Report; Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 4 (“A 

designation of “interchangeability” by FDA would significantly increase the competitive impact of a 

follow-on biologic product and consequently the potential for cost savings.”); Novartis Comment (9/29/08) 

at 9, 11, 24. 

88 BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 1; Heldman at 24-28. 

89 BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 3; PhRMA Comment (9/30/08) at 1. 

23
and other clinical settings. As a result, pioneer manufacturers are likely to retain 70 to 90 

percent of their market share after FOB entry. 

The likely effect of FOB entry contrasts markedly from small-molecule generic 

drug competition. Soon after small-molecule generic drug entry occurs, the branded 

product loses most of its market share. This loss of market share occurs because of state 

substitution laws and payor incentives that permit pharmacies to substitute a prescription 

for a branded product to a generic product without physician consent. When a market 

includes eight or more generic products, prices can be discounted up to 80 percent of the 

branded price. 

The Commission is mindful that the likely competitive effects of FOB entry 

described in this chapter are based on agreement among pioneer manufacturers, potential 

FOB applicants, and payors as to future conditions. The likely competitive effects of 

FOB competition could change if technology breakthroughs occur, biosimilar safety 

issues arise, health insurance coverage expands, or payor and reimbursement strategies 

change, among others. In sophisticated industries such as biotechnology, external 

conditions can and do change and often alter expectations of profit-maximizing firms.90 

This industry, however, has shown significant ability to adapt and thrive under new 

market conditions.91 The Commission expects the robust and dynamic market conditions 

of the biologic drug industry to continue with the entry of FOB drug products. 

 

90 See Charles E. Phelps, Managing the Market: Regulation and Technical Change in Health Care, 

HEALTH ECONOMICS, at 498-546 (3d ed. 2003). 

91 See Iain M. Cockburn, The Changing Structure of the Pharmaceutical Industry, 23 HEALTH AFFAIRS

1:10-22, 14 (2004). 

24
CHAPTER 2 PATENT PROTECTION AND MARKET INCENTIVES 

 ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ROBUST 

 INNOVATION INCENTIVES AFTER ENTRY OF 

 FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC DRUGS 

I. INTRODUCTION 

The introduction of FOB competition raises the question of whether, in addition 

to patent protection and market-based pricing, pioneer biologic drug products need an 

exclusivity period, a “branded exclusivity period,” that restricts FOB competition by 

prohibiting the FDA from approving an FOB product for some period of time to promote 

innovation in biologic drug markets.92 Pioneer biologic drug manufacturers have 

suggested that a 12- to 14-year branded exclusivity period is necessary to incentivize 

innovation.93 The length of this branded exclusivity period is based on a model that 

estimates the time it takes a pioneer manufacturer to recoup its investment to develop and 

commercialize a typical biologic drug (the “Nature model”).94 

This chapter explains that the main argument for a branded exclusivity period of 

12 to 14 years is to compensate for the perceived failures of the patent system to reward, 

protect, and incentivize biologic drug innovation.95 To understand whether such a 

branded exclusivity period is necessary, and the likely effects of such a period, this 

chapter summarizes the comments and relevant economic literature on how biologic 

drugs are developed and the role of the patent system in driving these innovations. 

 

92 Other ways to incentivize innovation include tax credits for R&D costs similar to the tax credits used for 

orphan drugs. See Orphan Drug Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 360aa-dd (2009). Alternatively, one commenter 

suggested that a new regulatory scheme be developed to allow for the reporting of R&D costs by pioneer 

manufacturers and then to have FOB entrants repay a share of these costs. See Essential Action Comment 

(12/22/08) at 4. This system may be difficult to establish and administer because FOBs are similar, not 

identical to the branded product, and may rely on different FDA findings of safety and effectiveness of the 

branded product to support regulatory approval. 

93 This report uses the term “branded exclusivity” rather than “data exclusivity” because current legislative 

proposals permit an FOB applicant to rely on FDA’s finding or conclusion that an approved pioneer drug is 

safe and effective. This reliance does not involve disclosure to the FOB applicant, or to the public, of the 

data in the pioneer manufacturers’ application. See FDA to Petitioners (May 30, 2006) at 6, available at

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/04P0231/04P-0231-pdn0001.pdf. Further, reliance on the 

FDA’s findings of safety and efficacy of the pioneer biologic provides much less of a benefit in the 

biologic context than in the small-molecule context, because the FOB will still have substantial R&D 

expenditures, including clinical testing. See infra Ch. 1 at 9, 14-15. 

94 Henry Grabowski, Follow-on Biologics: Data Exclusivity and the Balance Between Innovation and 

Competition, 7 NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY 479, 483 (June 2008). 

95 American Enterprise Institute (“AEI”) Comment (12/10/08) at 5 (“[D]ata exclusivity is a tool that comes 

into play when patents fail to provide reasonable protection for innovation.”); Henry Grabowski et al., 

Updating Prior Analyses and Responding to Critiques, Duke Univ. Dept. Econ. Working Paper, No. 2008-

10 (Dec. 22, 2008) at 3 (“[E]xclusivity periods are essential to compensate for some important 

shortcomings in patent protection for biologics.”); Duke University Comment (12/23/08) at 1 (“Data 

exclusivity periods . . . are an “insurance policy.”). 

25
The patent system is the primary means by which the government grants 

exclusive rights to promote innovation. Patent protection and market-based pricing 

enables biotechnology firms to increase their expected profits from investments in R&D, 

thus fostering innovation that would not occur without patents’ exclusionary rights.96 

Congress and the courts set patent policy with a conscious eye towards maintaining an 

appropriate balance with competition policy, which also promotes innovation, as the best 

means to benefit consumers.97 

Nothing about the introduction of FOB drug products changes the relationship of 

pioneer biologic drug products to the patents protecting them. As a result, patent 

protection should continue to incentivize biotechnology innovation, even after enactment 

of an approval process for FOB drugs. Pioneer biologic drugs are covered by more and 

varied patents than small-molecule branded products, including manufacturing and 

technology platform patents. Moreover, there is no evidence that patents claiming a 

biologic drug product have been designed around more frequently than those claiming 

small-molecule products. 

Even if the FOB manufacturer were to design around the patents claiming a 

pioneer biologic drug product and enter prior to patent expiration, the effect of FOB entry 

is unlikely to cause the precipitous decline in the pioneer product's revenues that generic 

drug entry causes. FOB drugs are likely to garner only 10 to 30 percent market share of 

an expanded market, rather than nearly 100 percent of the market share from a branded 

small-molecule drug manufacturer. The pioneer biologic drug manufacturer can continue 

to earn significant revenues years after FOB entry. 

The use of patents to incentivize innovation is especially strong if the FOB 

approval process does not contain special features similar to the ones in Hatch-Waxman 

that incentivize an early start to patent challenges that is prior to FDA approval of the 

generic drug. (These issues are discussed in Chapters 3 and 4.) These early patent 

challenges are unique to the generic drug industry and, if applied in the FOB drug 

context, undermine the ability of the patent to incentivize innovation. 

Market experience shows that pharmaceutical products already compete against 

other branded entrants and that this competition benefits consumers by increasing the 

pace and scope of innovation as well as price competition. Currently, pioneer or first-inclass branded products engage in a race with other branded competitors to bring products 

 

96 F.M. Scherer & David Ross, INDUSTRIAL MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, 3d Ed. 

621 (1990). 

97 The Supreme Court has emphasized the “careful balance” embodied in the patent system: “From their 

inception, the federal patent laws have embodied a careful balance between the need to promote innovation 

and the recognition that imitation and refinement through imitation are both necessary to invention itself 

and the very lifeblood of a competitive economy.” Bonito Boats, Inc. v. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc., 489 

U.S. 141, 146 (1989). 

26
to market.98 Over the last three decades, the head start of the first-in-class drug product 

has decreased as the average lead time of the first-in-class product shrank from 8.2 years 

during the 1970s to 2.25 years in the 1990s. This limited head start for the first-in-class 

drug product has not dampened R&D incentives and may, in fact, be optimal for 

rewarding past innovation while allowing competition to incentivize future innovation.99 

Because FOB entry is likely to have a competitive effect similar to that caused by entry 

of another branded competitor, it is likely that FOB entry will have a similar effect on 

innovation. 

 Congress has implemented exclusivity periods to encourage the development of 

new and innovative drug products when the drug molecule is in the public domain, and 

therefore not patentable. The Hatch-Waxman Act provides a five-year exclusivity period 

to incentivize the development of new chemical entities and it provides a three-year 

exclusivity period for new clinical investigations (“NCI”) of small-molecule drugs. In 

other instances, Congress has implemented an exclusivity period when market-based 

pricing has not provided sufficient incentive to test drug products for children or small 

patient populations. 

 Central to each of these exclusivities is a public policy trade-off: a restriction on 

competition is provided in return for a development of a new drug product or new use of 

an existing product. A 12- to 14-year exclusivity period for pioneer drugs, however, 

departs sharply from this basic trade-off, because it does not spur the creation of a new 

product or indication. The product has already been incentivized through patent 

protection and market-based pricing. 

 The potential harm posed by such a period is that firms will direct scarce R&D 

dollars toward developing low-risk clinical and safety data for drug products with proven 

methods of action rather than toward new inventions to address unmet medical needs. 

Thus, a new 12- to 14-year exclusivity period imperils the efficiency benefits of an FOB 

approval process in the first place and it risks over-investment in well-tilled areas. 

 This chapter then summarizes a critique of the Nature model. The model as 

currently structured contains numerous methodological and conceptual weaknesses that 

render its results too imprecise and non-robust to inform discussions about the ideal 

length of any branded exclusivity period. A model that balances the benefits of FOB 

competition with the costs of potentially forsaking marginal branded drug development 

projects would be more informative than the Nature model’s approach. 

 

98 See Joseph DiMasi & Cherie Paquette, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development, 

22 PHARMACOECONOMICS Supp 2:1-14, 10 (2004 ). Although this study examined pharmaceutical 

products primarily, it included several biologic drugs as well. 

 

99 F.M. Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty in Pharmaceutical Development 13 (FACULTY RESEARCH 

WORKING PAPERS SER., HARV. U. JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOV’T, 2007), available at 

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP07-039/$File/rwp_07_039_scherer.pdf. 

27
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PATENT PROTECTION TO THE NEW DRUG 

 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 

A. New Drug Research and Development Process 

Pharmaceutical innovation for new drug products is lengthy, expensive, highly 

risky, and involves a multitude of public- and private-sector entities.100 Pharmaceutical 

innovation begins with basic scientific research. Much of the funding of basic medical 

research comes from the National Institutes of Health or other government sources, angel 

investors and corporations, not venture capitalists.101 This funding covers basic research 

up until proof of concept, which is usually demonstrated by preclinical findings.102 This 

basic medical understanding of disease pathways and processes has led to the 

commercialization of two categories of biologic drugs: (1) recombinant proteins; and (2) 

monoclonal antibodies.103 

Once proof of concept has been attained, private investment from angel investors, 

corporate, and venture capital funding continues the development of these inventions 

 

100 See F.M. Scherer, Pharmaceutical Innovation, (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Univ., 

Working Paper No. RWP07-004, 2007) available at 

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP07-004; Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty, at 

11; see also U.S. Cong., Office of Technology Assessment (“OTA”), Pharmaceutical R&D: Costs, Risks 

and Rewards, at 6 (1993), available at http://www.princeton.edu/~ota (follow “OTA publications” 

hyperlink and use search engine there to find article by title) [hereinafter “Pharmaceutical R&D”]. 

101 Public policy to increase the U.S. expenditures for research, development and commercialization of 

federally-funded inventions led to enactment of The University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act 

of 1980 (also known as “The Bayh-Dole Act”), 35 U.S.C.A. § 200 et seq. (2009). This act provides 

universities and small businesses the right to patent federally funded inventions. Corporations and larger 

businesses were afforded these same rights pursuant to the Trademark Clarification Act of 1984. 15 

U.S.C.A. § 1501 (2009); 35 U.S.C.A. § 210(c) (2009). Privatization of government-funded research was 

deemed necessary because of a market failure to allocate risk capital to early-stage inventions. Since 

passage of the Bayh-Dole Act, university-based research has increased by over 800%. See Lewis M. 

Branscomb and Philip Auerwald, Between Invention and Innovation: An Analysis of Funding for Early 

Stage Technology Development, prepared for Nat’l Inst. of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), Dept. of 

Commerce (2002), available at http://www.atp.nist.gov/eao/gcr02-841/contents.htm. While government 

funds are used on a variety of novel scientific research, corporate funding typically is incremental 

innovation to support its pre-existing core business, and to “advance its established product and process 

technologies to better serve existing markets.” Id. at 4. 

102 Jerry G. Thursby & Marie Thursby, Enhanced: University Licensing and the Bayh-Dole Act, SCIENCE,

Aug. 22, 2003, at 1052, available at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/contebt/full/301/5636/1052. 

103 Steven Kozlowski, Protein Therapeutics and the Regulation of Quality: A Brief History, BIOPHARM 

INTERNATIONAL (Oct. 1, 2007), available at 

http://biopharminternational.findpharma.com/biopharm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=462759&sk=&date=&p

ageID=2. In addition to these two classes of therapeutic drug treatments, three additional classes of 

biotechnological products include: (1) vaccines, which typically are preventative treatments but are under 

investigation for use as therapeutic treatments; (2) cell therapies and (3) gene therapies which are in 

clinical development. 

28
through clinical development of a drug candidate.104 After late stage clinical 

development, private corporations typically begin to scale-up manufacturing and 

marketing efforts.105 The R&D process for developing biologic drugs lasts, on average, 

10 to 12 years.106 

Pioneer biologic manufacturers also engage in a race to screen, patent, and 

develop their products.107 These races are often propelled by a new medical threat or 

scientific advances that suggest a new line of therapy.108 

A study of first-in-class drugs approved by the FDA from the 1960s through the 

1990s shows that increasingly, multiple firms target the same disease, therapy or biologic 

pathway, and as a result, nearly every therapeutic class has had multiple branded 

competitors. Branded competitors’ R&D occurs in parallel. For example, in the 1990s, 

for all drug classes in which a first-in-class drug was approved, clinical testing for at least 

one branded competitor’s drug occurred before FDA approval of the first-in-class 

drug.109 The head start of the first-in-class drug product has decreased over the last three 

decades, shrinking markedly from 8.2 years during the 1970s to 2.25 years in the 

110 1990s. 

crosis Factor 

Vasoendothelial Growth Factor (“VEGF”) inhibitor for lung cancer and colorectal 

 

 Competition does not stop once FDA approval is obtained. Biologic drug 

manufacturers in particular seek to expand the market opportunity for their products by 

obtaining additional indications for diseases that share biologic pathways; for example, 

HGH indications for Turner’s syndrome and pituitary dwarfism, Tumor Ne

(“TNF”) inhibitors for both Crohn’s Disease and rheumatoid arthritis, and 

104 See NIST, DEP’T. OF COMMERCE, BEYOND MEASURE: A PROFILE OF ATP HEALTH CARE INVESTMENTS 

(2003), available at http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/brochures/healthcare.pdf (estimating that federal funding 

accounts for 21 to 25 percent of funding during the “valley of death” period between basic research and 

product development). 

105 See Branscomb, Between Invention and Innovation, at Figure 2, p. 33, see also Tanuja V. Garde, 

Supporting Innovation in Targeted Treatments: Licenses of Right to NIH-funded Research Tools, 11 MICH.

TELECOMM. TECH. L. REV. 249, 277 (2005), available at http://www.mttlr.org/voleleven/garde.pdf. 

106 See Joseph DiMasi et al., The Price of Innovation: New Estimates of Drug Development Costs, 22 J. 

Health Econ. 151, 162, 166 (2003) (estimating that average time from synthesis of a compound to initial 

human testing is 52.0 months, from the start of clinical testing to marketing approval is 90.3 months, and 

the total time is approximately 142 months [11 years, 10 months] for small-molecule drugs); see also

Grabowski, NATURE, at 481. 

107 DiMasi, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development, at 10. 

108 Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty, at 13. 

109 DiMasi, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development, at 9. 

110 Id; Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty, at 13. 

29
cancer. These incremental innovations lead to “improvements that over time can yield 

substantial benefits.”111 

B. The Importance of Patent Protection Incentives for Innovation 

 

Patent protection fuels this R&D engine.112 To obtain a patent, an invention (i.e., 

a product, a process, machine, or composition of matter) must be novel, non-obvious, and 

useful. A patentee also must disclose clearly the invention. Economic literature has 

described how this property right enables biotechnology firms to increase their expected 

profits from investments in R&D, thus fostering innovation that would not occur but for 

the prospect of a patent.113 

 The FTC, in its 2003 Report, “To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of 

Competition and Patent Law and Policy,” described how innovation in the biotechnology 

and pharmaceutical industries is highly dependent on patent protection, more so than any 

other industry.114 Stand-alone innovation in these two industries is costly and 

unpredictable, requiring significant amounts of pioneering research to discover and test 

new drug products. By preventing rival firms from free riding on discoveries, patents 

allow pioneer firms to recoup the substantial capital investments made to discover, test, 

and obtain regulatory approval of new drug products. Patents also are necessary to attract 

the capital to fund high-risk investment in the biotechnology industry.115

 The FTC Patent Report explained how pharmaceutical and biotech firms use the 

patent information disclosures required by the patent statutes to direct their R&D into 

 

111 See e.g., AEI Comment (12/10/08) at 2 (post approval development of novel biologics continues as 

science evolves);see also John Calfee, The Golden Age of Medical Innovation, THE AMERICAN

(March/April 2007), available at http://www.american.com/archive/2007/march-april-magazinecontents/the-golden-age-of-medical-innovation. 

112 See, e.g., Patent Reform: The Future of American Innovation, Hearing Before the S. Comm. on the 

Judiciary, 110th Cong. (2007) (statement of Kathryn L. Biberstein, Senior Vice President, Alkermes, on 

behalf of the Biotechnology Industry Organization), available at

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=2803. 

113 F.M. Scherer & David Ross, INDUSTRIAL MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, 621 (3d 

ed. 1990); see also Amgen, Inc. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77343 at *169-73 

(D. Mass. Oct. 2, 2008 (“Of course, the public derives significant benefits from the innovation generated by 

the economic incentives in our patent system.”). 

114 See FEDERAL TRADE COMM’N, TO PROMOTE INNOVATION: THE PROPER BALANCE OF COMPETITION AND 

PATENT LAW AND POLICY (2003), Ch. 3 at 1 [hereinafter “FTC PATENT REPORT”]. 

115 Id, see also Arti K. Rai, Knowledge Commons: The Cost of the Biopharmaceutical Industry, FIRST 

MONDAY (June 2007) (“Small biotechnology firms rely on patents, often on technology that is far removed 

from an end product, for purposes of deterring misappropriation when they market their technology. 

Patents also help small biotechnology firms negotiate vertical R&D alliances with pharmaceutical firms. 

For their part, pharmaceutical firms rely on patents on end product drugs for purposes of recouping 

research and development costs. [footnotes omitted.]”), available at 

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1909/1791.

30
areas not claimed by patents. Patent disclosures can guide rival firms’ efforts to “designaround” patents, so that they can develop non-infringing products to compete with the 

patented discovery and thus spur greater innovation.116

 Patent protection also covers several components of biotechnology products, 

including claims drawn to:117

 the compound or molecule, 

 methods of treatment (specific indications, route of administration), 

 formulation and dosage form, 

 product-by-process claims (products defined by the process used to make the 

molecule), 

 manufacturing process (including cell lines used in the manufacturing 

process), and 

 manufacturing technology (technology platforms and research tools used to 

make the molecule). 

With one key difference, these are the same types of patent claims that claim 

small-molecule products. Process patents and technology platform patents are often more 

important for biologic drug products than for small-molecule drug products. Process 

patent claims are important because the “processes by which biologics are made are 

highly specific, complex, and determine many of the biologic’s functional and structural 

characteristics. . . [that] can often be expected to affect the product’s safety, purity, and 

efficacy profile, and thus are integral to the approval of the product itself.”118 Process 

claims, therefore, add a layer of patent protection that small-molecule drug products may 

not possess.119 

 

116 Id. at 1-2. 

117 See BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 10-12. 

118 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 12; see also Bruce S. Manheim et al., ‘Follow-On Biologics’: Ensuring 

Continued Innovation In The Biotechnology Industry, 25 HEALTH AFFAIRS 2: 394-404, 397(March/April 

2006) (“the identity of a [biologic] product is clearly dependent upon the process used to manufacture the 

product.”). 

119 One commenter noted that not all biologic manufacturing processes are patented, and may restrain entry 

by FOBs because they are trade secrets in the possession of the branded manufacturers. Essential Action 

Comment (12/22/08) at 3, and fn. 3 (quoting Gregory Mandel, The Generics Biologics Debate: Industry’s 

Unintended Admission That Biotech Patents Fail Enablement, 11 Va. J.L. & Tech. at 66 (2006)). Trade 

secrets often cover methods of making biologic products. See e.g., Letter from Director Steven K. Glason, 

FDA Center for Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) to Petitioners (May 30, 2006) at 9, available at

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/04P0231/04P-0231-pdn0001.pdf [hereinafter “FDA’s Second 

31
Indeed, concern previously centered on the belief that biotechnology patent 

protection was too strong because of patent claims covering research tools used to assist 

in the drug discovery process. The concern was that patented research tools would 

actually obstruct commercialization of new products, thereby hindering follow-on 

innovation.120 This problem has yet to materialize.121

C. Patent Protection in the Biotechnology Industry 

The introduction of FOB competition raises the question of whether pioneer 

biologic drug products should be granted an exclusivity period to incentivize innovation. 

This section summarizes the two competing arguments regarding the strength of patents 

to continue to incentivize biotechnology R&D in the face of FOB competition. 

1. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Arguments that Patents Are 

Unlikely to Incentivize Innovation in Light of FOB 

Competition 

Panelists and commenters representing pioneer biologic drug manufacturers 

suggested that biologic drug patents are likely to provide less investment certainty than 

patents claiming small-molecule drug products because FOB products are likely to be 

similar to, not exact duplicates of, the branded drug product.122 The panelists suggested 

that FOB competitors could develop biosimilar products by designing around the branded 

product’s patents.123 

 Response to Omnitrope CPs”]; Reinhardt Comment (10/19/08) at 2; Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 2; 

Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 40. 

120 FTC PATENT REPORT, at Ch. 3 at 1; Michael Heller et al., Can Patents Deter Innovation? The 

Anticommons in Biomedical Research, 280 SCIENCE at 698-701 (MAY 1, 1998) (posits the concern that 

while biomedical patents spur private investment to support innovation but risks paradoxically the 

proliferation of fragmented and overlapping intellectual property rights which may restrict the number of 

commercialized products for improving human health); Suzanne Scotchmer, Standing On The Shoulders Of 

Giants: Cumulative Research And Patent Law,JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES, 5 AMERICAN 

ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION 1: 29-41 (1991); see also HHS, NIH, Principles and Guidelines for Sharing of 

Biomedical Resources, 64 Fed. Reg. No. 246, 72090 (December 23,1999) (ensuring that the conditions 

imposed on the transfer of research tools will facilitate further biomedical research, consistent with the 

requirements of the Bayh-Dole Act). 

 

121 John Walsh et al., Effects of Research Tools Patents and Licensing on Biomedical Innovation, PATENTS 

IN THE KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY, 285-336 (2003); John Walsh et al., View From the Bench: Patents 

and Material Transfers, 309 SCIENCE 2003-03 (September 23, 2005); Office of Industries, U.S. 

International Trade Comm’n, Patenting Trends and Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology (October 2008).

122 See. e.g., AEI Comment (12/10/08) at 5 (“[D]ata exclusivity is a tool that comes into play when patents 

fail to provide reasonable protection for innovation.”); BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 4; Duke University 

Comment (12/22/08) at 3. 

123 Norman at 156. 

32
A commenter predicted that the pioneer drug manufacturer does not know 

whether its patent estate is going to cover the exact molecule that an FOB manufacturer 

produces.124 Another commenter summed up this difficulty by suggesting that “the 

uncertain ‘similarity’ standard for approval of FOBs creates a greater potential for 

biologic patents to be designed around, particularly given some of the available case law 

involving the scope of biologic patents.”125 

Panelists and commenters also suggested that the uncertain scope of patent 

protection was caused by recent rules of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and 

Federal Circuit decisions narrowing of the claims to the biologic molecule.126 A panelist 

suggested that Federal Circuit decisions and PTO practices have forced patentees to 

obtain “snapshot” claims that limit the claim scope of the compound patent to the exact 

amino acid sequence.127 A panelist suggested that in light of these developments, the 

PTO is applying the written description requirements in such a way that “it is very 

difficult to get any kind of scope.”128 Another panelist noted that for biologics, it is much 

more difficult to establish claims drawn to a broad genus that support current written 

description and enablement requirements.129 Additionally, one panelist explained that 

the PTO recently issued written description guidelines supporting a more narro

interpretation of the written description requirement such that a greater percentage of 

homology is required in molecules patent claims covering DNA sequences.

w 

 

130

 Some panelists also discussed the market effects from the Federal Circuit’s 

decisions scaling back the doctrine of equivalents -- a doctrine that allows for a finding of 

infringement when the infringing product does not fall within the literal scope of the 

patent claim but is equivalent to the claimed invention.131 Panelists and commenters 

suggested that the practical effect of these current trends in patent law portends difficulty 

for a branded firm to broaden the scope of its patent claims to cover all equivalent 

products, especially if the biosimilar differs from the branded biologic by a small 

variation in amino acid sequences. 

124 Kushan at 180. 

125 Manspeizer at 148-49; BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 5; see also Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 8.. 

126 See e.g., Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 8; Manheim, Follow-On Biologics. 

127 Seide at 150-52; BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 5-6 (citing case law). 

128 Kepplinger at 158-59 (further explaining that under the PTO’s current practice for a molecule patent 

claim to a method of use or function, the PTO will restrict the function claim to the narrow molecule and 

not broaden it across variations of that molecule.) 

129 Dow at 166-67. 

130 Kepplinger at 157-58; see generally Patent and Trademark Office, Written Description Training 

Materials (2008), available at http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/written.pdf.

131 See Goldman at 164-65, Kepplinger at 158-59; Manspeizer at 148-49. 

33
Another panelist described that when a patent applicant narrows claims during the 

patent prosecution at the PTO, it has the collateral effect under prosecution history 

estoppel of surrendering future claims under the doctrine of equivalents that the patentee 

might try to claim against a biosimilar entrant.132

2. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Arguments that Patent Protection 

Provides Ample Incentives for Innovation 

FOB manufacturers suggested that these arguments were overbroad because of 

the number and scope of patents that pioneer manufacturers control relating to their 

biologic products. For example, FOB commenters and panelists explained how the 

molecule patents claiming branded products would likely be infringed by FOBs.133 Thus, 

a “minor and immaterial sequence change is very likely to expose a follow-on biologic to 

an infringement risk.”134 Another commenter explained that while “smaller biopharma 

products (such as peptides, fragments and small proteins) may have granted patents 

covering the full sequence of the product, Amgen’s recent success on EPO full sequence 

claims against Roche and Transkaryotic Therapies (different products and technologies) 

shows the power in such claims.”135 

Some FOB manufacturers suggested that process patents will likely provide 

additional protection against infringing products, making it more difficult for FOB 

manufacturers to design around the patents and obtain FDA approval of an FOB 

product.136 For example, one panelist suggested that the pioneer manufacturer may have 

patented the most commercially viable manufacturing methods and the FOB industry 

may not be able to devise “another commercially appropriate way to circumvent a 

process patent.”137 In light of this problem, another commenter suggested that process 

“patents often provide a level of market protection because the biological origin of their 

discovery makes them necessary for a production of a product.”138 

 

132 Dow at 166-67, 169; Manspeizer at 148-49. 

133 Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 2 (“Biologics are large molecules, and product patents 

typically only claim their ‘active’ regions. [footnote omitted] These active regions engage the molecule 

with its surrounding environment and create the therapeutic effect. Thus, while biosimilars might be 

similar, but not identical, their functionality will likely require resolution of product claims covering the 

biologic’s active region, regions that will often be shared by both the reference biologic and the 

biosimilar.”); Leicher at 161-62; Winston & Strawn (“W&S”) Comment (12/22/08) at 4. 

134 Pearce at 169. 

135 Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 3; Amgen, Inc. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.., 2008 U.S. 

Dist. LEXIS 77343 at * 13 (D. Mass. Oct. 2, 2008); Genzyme Corp. v. Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., 346 

F.3d 1094 (Fed. Cir. 2003). 

136 Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 2. 

137 Pearce at 144-45. 

138 Momenta Comment (12/22/08) at 8. 

34
Another commenter suggested that additional barriers to FOB entry are created by 

well-known platform technology patents used in the research, development and 

manufacture of biopharmaceutical products.139 This commenter explained that “[t]hese 

patents are extremely broad and tend to overlap with one another, providing brand 

biopharmaceuticals with wide-ranging protection over their drug products.”140 

FOB manufacturers suggested that “[b]iologic patents are more likely to obtain 

patent term extensions under Section 156 [of the Patent Act] due to the long and complex 

patent prosecutions.”141 These extensions ebb and flow with the PTO’s workload.142 

FOB manufacturers also suggested that biologics “are also more likely than chemical 

drugs to be covered by ‘submarine’ patents.”143 

D. Patent Protection is Likely to Continue to Provide Strong Incentives 

 for Innovation after Introduction of Follow-On Drug Competition

The patent system has a proven record of protecting and stimulating 

biotechnology innovation.144 The introduction of FOB drug products does not alter the 

relationship of pioneer biologic drug products to the patents protecting them. Pioneer 

biologic drugs are covered by more and varied patents than small-molecule branded 

 

139 Panelists explained the number of patents per biologic product, including platform patents, is 

substantial, resulting in significant ”stacking” of patents (or royalties) compared to the small-molecule 

patent estates. See Dow at 185; Sauer at 261; Seide at 238; Duncan Bucknell Co. Comment (1/9/09) at 9; 

Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 6-7; Wyeth Comment (9/30/08) at 4. 

140 Essential Action Comment (12/22/08) at 3, and fn. 3 (quoting Gregory Mandel, The Generics Biologics 

Debate: Industry’s Unintended Admission That Biotech Patents Fail Enablement, 11 Va. J.L. & Tech. at 66 

(2006)); W&S Comment (12/22/08) at 5;. 

141 W&S Comment (12/22/08) at 3. 

142 Leicher at 162-63; Dow at 185. 

143 Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment (12/22/08) at 3. Submarine patents result from older patent 

applications that are not published. Because the applications are not made available 18 months after filing, 

competitors cannot use the applications to determine whether their FOB products in R&D are likely to 

infringe potential issued patents. This also creates uncertainty for competitors. 

144 F.M. Scherer & David Ross, INDUSTRIAL MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, at 621 

(3rd Ed., 1990); see also Patent Reform: The Future of American Innovation, Hearing Before the S. 

Comm. on the Judiciary, 110th Cong. (2007) (statement of Kathryn L. Biberstein, Senior Vice President, 

Alkermes) at 2; Patent Reform Act of 2007: Hearing on H.R. 1908 Before the H. Subcomm. on Courts, the 

Internet, and Intellectual Property of the H. Comm. on Judiciary, 110th Cong. 65 (2007) (statement of 

Kevin Sharer, CEO of Amgen), available at

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/April2007/Sharer070426.pdf., Stifling or Stimulating - The Role of 

Gene Patents in Research and Genetic Testing Before the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, Subcomm. on 

Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, 110th Cong. (2007) (statement of Jeffrey P. Kushan on 

Behalf of BIO), available at http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/Kushan071030.pdf. 

35
products, including manufacturing and technology platform patents.145 Patent cases 

between pioneer manufacturers reveal that patents such as process, manufacturing, and 

method of use claims can be infringed by a branded competitor.146 These cases show that 

the range of patents claiming a biologic product provide a strong assurance that at least 

one of a biologic drug product’s patents will cover an FOB drug product. 

There is no evidence that the patents claiming the compound or molecule of 

pioneer biologic drugs have been designed around more frequently than those claiming 

small-molecule drug products. There are a variety of ways to draft claims broadly 

enough to cover the types of drug structure variations expected in follow-on biologics.147 

For example, patent claims reciting the amino acid sequence of a biologic drug 

compound or molecule can encompass not only the specific sequence, but also a broad 

genus of structurally and/or functionally related variants through the use of “percent 

identity claims.” An example of a percent identity claim would be ‘a protein comprising 

an amino acid sequence sharing at least 70% identity with the described amino acid 

sequence.’148 The PTO’s Written Description Guidelines specifically allow the use of 

percent identity claims.149 The effect of these claims is that the patent covering the 

pioneer biologic drug can be broader than the actual product.150 Using the example 

 

145 Id., see also Dow at 185; Sauer at 261; Seide at 238; Duncan Bucknell Co. Comment (1/9/09) at 9; 

Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 6-7; Wyeth Comment (9/30/08) at 4. 

146 Bio-Technology Gen. Corp. v. Genentech, Inc., 267 F.3d 1325, 1333 (Fed. Cir. 2001) (reversing trial 

court’s finding of invalidity for lack of enablement regarding method of production patent); see also Press 

Release, Genentech, Genentech Receives Final Notification Upholding Cabilly Patent in Reexamination 

Proceeding (Feb. 24, 2009), available at www.gene.com (announcing PTO issuance of Notice of Intent to 

Issue a Reexamination Certificate confirming patentability of all claims of the Cabilly Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 

6,331,415) claiming methods of making recombinant cells expressing both an immunoglobulin light chain 

and heavy chain used in genetically-engineered monoclonal antibodies). 

147 John R. Thomas, Toward a Theory of Marketing Exclusivities at 32-33 (2009) (forthcoming) 

(“Biotechnology products may commonly be defined through multiple techniques, including their structure, 

chemical or physical characteristics, and method of preparation, that in combination are capable of 

providing a potent shield against would-be competitors.”). 

148 Christopher M. Holman, Is Lilly Written Description a Paper Tiger?: A Comprehensive Assessment of 

the Impact of Eli Lilly and Its Progeny in the Courts and PTO, 17 ALB. L.J. SCI. & TECH. 1, 44 (2007). 

149 PTO, WRITTEN DESCRIPTION TRAINING MATERIALS (2008), available at

http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/written.pdf. 

150 See, e.g., Infigen, Inc. v. Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., 65 F. Supp.2d 967,975 (W.D. Wis. 1999) (“It 

is black letter law that claims are not limited to the embodiment described in the patent specifications. 

Moreover, a patent claim may encompass uses not anticipated by the inventor and therefore not described 

in the patent.”) (citations omitted). This principle extends beyond percent identity claims. Capon v. 

Eshhar, 418 F.3d. 1349, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (reversing BPAI interpretation of written description and 

holding, “It is not necessary that every permutation within a generally operable invention be effective in 

order for an inventor to obtain a generic claim, provided that the effect is sufficiently demonstrated to 

characterize a generic invention.”); Invitrogen Corp. v. Clontech Labs., 429 F. 3d 1052, 1071-74 (Fed. Cir. 

2005) (holding that disclosure of a known protein variant satisfied written description for claims 

encompassing engineered protein variants with shared function);id at 1073 (“Enablement does not require 

the inventor to foresee every means of implementing an invention at pains of losing his patent franchise.”), 

36
above, an FOB drug product’s molecule could differ by up to 30 percent and still infringe 

the patent protecting the pioneer product.151 

The scope of drug compound or molecule patents depends on the claim language 

and patent prosecution. Although it is true that alleged competitors have been found not 

to infringe drug compound claims because of the way in which the claims were 

construed,152 it is equally true that biotechnology drug product claims have been 

construed so that accused products have been found to infringe even when they have 

varied from the patentee’s corresponding product.153 For example, a pioneer 

manufacturer recently obtained a permanent injunction after a finding that its patents 

were infringed by a competitor that had altered the patented molecule slightly.154 Other 

cases are pending as well.155 

 see generally Christopher M. Holman, Is Lilly Written Description a Paper Tiger?: A Comprehensive 

Assessment of the Impact of Eli Lilly and Its Progeny in the Courts and PTO, 17 ALB. L.J. SCI. & TECH. 1

(2007) (a comprehensive review of federal court and PTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences 

decisions reveals no support for the proposition that since the Lilly decision, which purportedly tightened 

the written description requirements for biotechnology drug molecule claims, patentees have not been able 

to obtain patents with sufficiently broad scope.). 

151 Christopher M. Holman, Is Lilly Written Description a Paper Tiger?: A Comprehensive Assessment of 

the Impact of Eli Lilly and Its Progeny in the Courts and PTO, 17 ALB. L.J. SCI. & TECH. 1, 47 (2007). 

152 Biogen, Inc. v. Berlex Labs, 318 F.3d 1132, 1140-42 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (affirming trial court’s finding 

that there was no literal infringement and vacating summary judgment of non-infringement under the 

doctrine of equivalents); Genentech, Inc. v. The Wellcome Found. Ltd., 29 F.3d 1555, 1569 (Fed. Cir. 

1997) (reversing trial court’s denial of defendant’s JMOL in part because an element of the doctrine of 

equivalents was not met); Novo Nordisk of N. America, Inc., v. Genentech, Inc., 77 F.3d 1364, 1367-71 

(Fed. Cir. 1996) (vacating preliminary injunction on grounds that district court erred in finding literal 

infringement where “direct expression” of human growth hormone did not cover alleged infringers 

“cleavable fusion” process for producing the hormone); Hormone Research Foundation, Inc., v. Genentech, 

Inc., 904 F.2d 1558, 1563-67 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (finding no literal infringement, vacating infringement under 

the doctrine of equivalents, holding that the patentee did not intend “corresponding to” and “similar” to 

have the same meaning, and ruling that “corresponding to” reflected true identity). 

153 Genentech, Inc. v. Chiron Corp., 112 F.3d 495, 501 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (reversing district court’s claim 

interpretation in interference proceeding because it was “not the broadest, reasonable interpretation of the 

count.”) (citing Genentech, Inc. v. The Wellcome Found., Ltd., 29 F.3d 1555 (Fed Cir. 1997)); Amgen, Inc. 

v. Chugai Pharm. Co., 927 F.2d 1200, 1219 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (affirming trial court’s finding that certain 

claims covering purified and isolated DNA sequences encoding EPO and host cells transformed or 

transfected with a DNA sequence were valid and infringed and reversing finding that other claims were 

enabled); Amgen, Inc. v. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77343 (D. Mass. 2008) 

(granting permanent injunction for infringement of claims directed to a specific amino acid sequence); see 

also Amgen Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel, 579 F. Supp. 2d 199, 210 (D. Mass. 2008); Chiron v. 

Genentech, Inc., 268 F. Supp. 2d 1126, 1138 (E.D. Cal. 2008); Genentech, Inc. v. Insmed Inc., 436 F. 

Supp. 2d 1080, 1091-92 (N.D. Cal. 2006) (granting patent holder’s partial motion for summary judgment 

and finding literal infringement of a patent claiming “Preparation of Human IGF via Recombinant DNA I 

Technology”). 

154 Amgen, Inc. v. F. Hoffmann La Roche, Ltd., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77343 (D. Mass. Oct. 2, 2008). 

155 See e.g., Bayer HealthCare LLC v. Abbott Laboratories, Civ. Action No. 6:08cv507 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 24, 

2008), complaint available at http://www.patentbaristas.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bayer.pdf. 

37
To the extent an FOB manufacturer will attempt to design around a pioneer 

manufacturer’s patent, that effort is to be expected and encouraged. Competing branded 

manufacturers have been doing just that since the early days of biotechnology patents.156 

The purpose of the required patent disclosures is to assist rival firms to design around 

patents so that they can develop non-infringing products to compete with the patented 

discovery and thus spur greater innovation.157 Of course, FOB manufacturers run the risk 

that the more their drug molecule differs from the pioneer product’s molecule to avoid 

patent infringement issues, the greater the chance that its product will no longer be 

“similar” enough to the pioneer product to use the FOB approval process. 

Finally, even if the FOB manufacturer were to design around the patents claiming 

a pioneer biologic drug product and enter prior to patent expiration, the pioneer 

manufacturer will continue to earn significant revenues after FOB entry. Pioneer 

manufacturers are likely to retain 70 to 90 percent market share following FOB entry. 

Moreover, the overall market is likely to expand following FOB entry, thereby 

diminishing the loss of revenue by the pioneer manufacturer. The effect on the pioneer 

manufacturer caused by FOB entry is not nearly as great as it is with small-molecule 

generic drug entry. 

In sum, continued reliance on the patent system to stimulate biotechnology 

innovation is well-justified. This reliance is well-place especially if the FOB abbreviated 

FDA drug approval process does not contain special regulatory features similar to the 

ones in Hatch-Waxman that incentivize patent challenges prior to FDA approval of the 

FOB drug and undermine the ability of the patent to incentivize innovation. 

 Abbott countersued in Massachusetts: Abbott Laboratories v. Bayer Healthcare LLC, 09cv40002, U.S. 

District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 09cv40002, (D. Mass. June 5, 2008). 

156 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 22 (citing industry experience over more than two decades of biotechnology 

patent litigation). 

157 FTC PATENT REPORT, Ch. 3 at 1-2. 

38
III. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS DO NOT SUPPORT A 12- TO 14-YEAR 

BRANDED EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD 

Commenters and panelists also described the need for, and the likely effects of, a 

12- to 14-year branded exclusivity period. The next two sections summarize these views 

and the need for a 12- to 14-year exclusivity period. The third section provides an 

analysis of these effects. 

A. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Views on the Likely Effects of a Branded 

Exclusivity Period 

 Pioneer manufacturers suggested that a 12- to 14-year branded exclusivity period 

provides certainty about recoupment when R&D investment decisions are made.158 

Moreover, exclusivity only protects the pioneer manufacturer from the use of its own data 

by a potential FOB competitor for the length of the exclusivity period.159

To calculate the recoupment amount, pioneer manufacturers rely on an economic 

model (the “Nature model”) that calculates the time it takes for a manufacturer to recover 

fully its investment to develop and commercialize a typical biologic drug.160 Some 

commenters have concluded that the Nature model supports a branded exclusivity period 

between 12.9 and 16.2 years in length.161

Pioneer manufacturers suggested that a branded exclusivity period substantially 

shorter than 14 years would be disastrous for innovation and patients.162 They suggested 

that without substantial exclusivity, there will be a decrease in the number of “targets of 

opportunity” for which FOBs could reference.163 In addition, R&D would shift away 

from new treatments for diseases, thus depriving the public of much needed treatments 

 

158 Phillips at 100-01 (“[I]f there is no chance to recoup the capital outlay, then the investment won’t be 

made.”). This panelist also suggested that there is a dynamic effect to a branded exclusivity period in that it 

“is going to change the status quo for investment decisions made by innovator companies;” see also AEI 

Comment (12/10/08); Eli Lilly Comment (12/19/08) at 2; Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 2 (“Just as 

certainty spurs innovation and advances that benefit patients, lack of certainty in the pharmaceutical and 

biotechnology industries hinders innovation”). 

159 Johnson & Johnson Comment (3/17/09) at 6. 

160 Grabowski, Follow-on Biologic. 

161 Duke University Comment (12/22/08); PhRMA Comment (12/22/08). 

162 See, e.g., BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 17 (“Failure to provide substantial data exclusivity would 

fundamentally alter the ability of biotechnology companies to continue to innovate because these 

companies, in order to secure the necessary resources from venture capital firms and other funding sources, 

must have some certainty that the can prevent free-riding on their investment in the development of new 

breakthrough therapies for a substantial period of time.”) 

163 Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 10. 

39
for unmet medical needs, toward ‘safer’ bets such as new formulations or second 

generation molecules.”164

 Others suggested that a branded exclusivity period should be similar to the actual 

amount of time that patented small-molecule products enjoy before generic entry 

occurs.165 Under Hatch-Waxman, even though the maximum amount of branded 

exclusivity is five years, generic entry occurs, on average and depending upon the size of 

the market, between 11 and 13 years after FDA approval of the branded drug product.166

 Although one panelist questioned why, if the exclusivity period were short, the 

pioneer manufacturer could not raise prices to make up for any shortfall in revenue and 

thus not be any worse off.167 However, another panelist explained that the “the key 

driver of prices will be if you’re in a market where there’s competition or anticipated 

competition.”168 

By contrast, commenters representing FOB manufacturers suggested that 

experience under Hatch-Waxman informed their view that a long exclusivity period 

would lengthen the time between innovations and do little to stimulate innovation. 

Instead, a 14-year branded exclusivity period may simply reduce the pace of 

innovation.169 One commenter predicted that if the branded exclusivity period were that 

long then branded manufacturers would engage in minor product enhancement strategies 

which would multiply the costs of expanding monopoly protection.170 Others noted that 

long exclusivity periods will eliminate or substantially delay the efforts by FOB 

manufacturers in making innovations in safety, convenience, cost, access, 

immunogenicity, interchangeability, or new indications for biologics.171 

 

164 Id. at 9. 

165 BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 6. 

166 Henry Grabowski et al., Generic Competition and Market Exclusivity Periods in Pharmaceuticals, 

MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS 28 (2007) 491–502, at 493 (the study examined 251 products that 

encountered generic entry between 1995 and 2005). 

167 Heldman at 117; see also Essential Action Comment (12/22/08) at 2 (“[F]ree from competitive pressures 

they can set a price that allows them to earn profits, and not just recoup their R&D costs.”). 

168 Grabowski at 117-18 (“[P]rice is going to be driven by your interaction with payers and other 

competitors.”). 

169 Zuckerman Spaeder Comment (12/22/08) at 12. 

170 Teva Comment at 5 (“Evergreening will multiply the economic costs of expanding monopoly protection 

via exclusivity arrangements. Brand companies can, and routinely do, make relatively minor changes to 

their existing products in order to restart their monopoly-protection clocks.”). 

171 Brugger at 74; Behrman at 77-79; Grabowski at 80; Barr Comment (12/19/08) at 1-2 (the 

anticompetitive barrier to FOB competition is longer than just the term of the exclusivity period, as FOB 

cannot file its application until the day after the period expires, and entry is further delayed for year(s) 

while FDA reviews the FOB’s application.); Momenta Comment (12/22/08) at 1-3; Novartis Comment 

(9/29/08) at 10 (“With no market access, there is only limited incentive to make safe and effective 

40
B. Panelists’ and Commenters’ Views on the Need for Branded 

Exclusivity to Incentivize Incremental Innovation 

The panelists and commenters also examined how the existence and length of an 

exclusivity period could affect incremental innovation. Pioneer manufacturers explained 

that there likely would not be incremental innovation without recoupment to recover 

these investments.172 In this context, participants used the term “incremental 

innovation” to refer to actions such as the discovery of a new indication for a previousl

approved product, or an improved formulation for greater safety or conveni 173

y 

ence. 

 

A commenter suggested that a 12- to 14- year period of exclusivity is necessary to 

encourage post-FDA approval research. This commenter explained “that at the time a 

novel biologic is approved, little may be known of what that drug can do or of what can 

be achieved in connection with its biological target.”174 Another commenter suggested 

that without an additional exclusivity period the number of post-approval clinical trials 

testing new uses of already approved biologic would drastically decrease due to the lack 

of certainty of an adequate return on investment. For example, instead of anti-cancer 

biologics being tested in a dozen or more indications in large scale, “Phase IV” clinical 

trials, no attempt would be made to broaden the use of approved biologic drugs.175

Another commenter explained that some extension of exclusivity for the pioneer 

product is necessary to effectively incentivize the development of new indications for, or 

other improvements to, existing products. Without such an extension, this commenter 

predicted that “healthcare practitioners may decide to use the FOB to treat the new 

indication regardless of whether the FOB was approved for that indication.”176

Another panelist suggested, however, that there likely would be a trade-off 

between the length of the initial branded exclusivity period and additional grants of 

exclusivity for new indications. He suggested that if additional branded exclusivity is 

granted, that the initial period be kept shorter to encourage the pioneer manufacturer to 

engage in the post-approval R&D.177

competing products . . . expand the market with new indications . . . .implement more efficient and costeffective manufacturing that potentially can enable reductions in costs of goods.”). 

172 Grabowski at 128; Horton at 129-30; Philips at 132-33. 

173 See John E. Calfee, Facing Reality on Follow-On Biologics, AEI (2007), available at 

http://www.aei.org/docLib/20070423_200704AHPOg.pdf. 

174 AEI Comment (12/10/08) at 2. 

175 Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 9. 

176 BIO Comment (12/22/08) at 7-8. 

177 Brill at 133-34. 

41
C. Likely Competitive Effects of a Branded Exclusivity Period 

1. The Innovation Benefits of FOB Competition 

As discussed in Chapter 1, FOB manufacturers are likely to seek approval of 

biosimilar products whose market effects are likely to resemble those of pioneer biologic 

products rather than small-molecule generic products. Innovation benefits due to branded 

competition include a race among firms attacking an unmet medical need or investigating 

a promising therapy that results in increased dissemination of scientific knowledge, and a 

greater chance of developing a breakthrough product to benefit consumers.178 The social 

value of the cumulative effects of incremental innovations can often exceed those of the 

original breakthrough.179 These same benefits are likely with entry of FOB products.

 Branded competitors also enhance their products to differentiate them from their 

competitors. This is a common dynamic in competitive markets. Automatic substitution 

of generic drugs distorts this product enhancement dynamic such that branded 

manufacturers are incentivized to change their products in minor ways to defeat 

automatic substitution.180 These minor changes may not provide clinical or patient 

benefit. The lack of automatic substitution of FOB products, however, is likely to lessen 

this distortion in biologic drug markets. 

2. Actual Pioneer Drug Manufacturer Exclusivity Can Inform 

the Length of a Branded Exclusivity Period 

The head start that first-in-class branded products already experience against 

second-in-class products can inform the length of a branded exclusivity period for 

biologics. A subsequent branded competitor obtains limited benefits from the regulatory 

approval occasioned by the first-in-class product because its R&D efforts have been 

proceeding on a parallel path with those of the first-in-class manufacturer.181 The head 

start of the first-in-class drug product has decreased over the last three decades as the 

average lead time of the first-in-class product shrank from 8.2 years during the 1970s to 

2.25 years in the 1990s. This limited period of exclusivity for the first-in-class drug 

 

178 See generally DiMasi, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development; Ian Cockburn, 

The Changing Structure of the Pharmaceutical Industry, 23 HEALTH AFF. 1:10-22 (2004). 

179 William J. Bauomol, THE FREE-MARKET INNOVATION MACHINE: ANALYZING THE GROWTH MIRACLE 

OF CAPITALISM (2002) at 33 (capitalism benefits society not just through price competition but also through 

systematic innovation races among all firms in an innovating industry as they vie for consumers and dare 

not fall behind the others in new products and processes). 

180 See Abbott Labs. v. Teva Pharm. USA, Inc., 432 F. Supp. 2d 408, 413 n.1 (D. Del. 2006) for an 

example of litigation alleging this type of strategy. See also Herbert Hovencamp, Mark D. Janis & Mark 

A. Lemley, IP AND ANTITRUST, § 12.5 (2006). 

181 See generally DiMasi, The Economics of Follow-on Drug Research and Development. Although this 

study examined pharmaceutical products primarily, it included several biologic drugs as well. 

 

42
product has not dampened R&D incentives and may, in fact, be optimal for rewarding 

past innovation while allowing competition to incentivize future innovation.182 

 3. FOB Entry is Unlikely to Occur Immediately upon Expiration 

 of a Limited Period of Branded Exclusivity 

 It is likely that few, if any, biologic products will experience FOB entry 

immediately upon expiration of a limited period of exclusivity. The generic drug 

approval process under Hatch-Waxman results in branded manufacturers enjoying 

approximately 11 to 13 years of de facto exclusivity prior to a generic drug entry.183 This 

length of market exclusivity occurs despite the incentives within Hatch-Waxman for 

generic manufacturers to challenge branded patents prior to FDA approval of the generic 

drug. Indeed, this length of time is attributable mainly to patent protection and patent 

restoration.184 

An approach that does not provide incentives to challenge a pioneer product’s 

patents prior to FDA approval is likely to result in a longer period of de facto exclusivity 

than that which occurs under Hatch-Waxman for small-molecule drugs. To the extent 

patents are at issue, they would be resolved after any branded exclusivity period had 

expired and FDA approval had been acquired, similar to the way in which branded 

competitors currently resolve their patent disputes. It is unlikely that FOB manufacturers 

will expend the substantial resources to develop a biosimilar product and obtain FDA 

approval if it is likely to run afoul of a pioneer product’s patents. 

 

Moreover, expiration of a branded exclusivity period does not mean that FDA 

approval of an FOB will follow soon thereafter. Pioneer manufacturers are likely to use 

the citizen petition process to raise safety and efficacy concerns about FOBs, which will 

delay FOB approvals, as occurred with Omnitrope.185 Additional delays to FDA 

approvals of FOB applications would likely occur were FDA required to issue guidance 

documents, including issuing draft guidance documents, soliciting public comments, and 

finalizing the guidance documents, before accepting or approving any FOB application 

for a particular class of branded biologic drugs.186

 

182 Scherer, Markets and Uncertainty, at 13. 

183 Grabowski, Generic Competition and Market Exclusivity Periods in Pharmaceuticals, at 493. 

184 Charles Clift, The Value of Patent Term Extensions to the Pharmaceutical Industry in the USA, 5 J.

GEN. MED. 201-208 (Apr. 2008). 

185 Barr Comment (9/30/08) at 12.; PhRMA Comment (9/30/08) at 19 (“As in the case of generic drugs, any 

regulatory approval pathway for FOBs would involve complex scientific and legal considerations that can 

and should be raised through appropriate mechanisms, such as citizen petitions. Innovator companies have 

extensive knowledge about their products, and are often in the best position to bring to FDA’s attention 

complex regulatory and scientific issues regarding appropriate approval standards.”). 

186 See, e.g., H. 1548, 111th Cong. § 101(k)(2)(B)(iii) (2009) (guidelines required for assessing 

immunogenicity); id. at § 101(k)(4)(B) (guidelines required for assessing interchangeability); and id. at § 

101(k)(5)(C) (guidelines required for Risk Evaluation and Mitigations Strategy). 

43
Even if patent litigation were to start following FDA approval, pioneer 

manufacturers would likely have de facto exclusivity for several years after the period 

ends due to the time it takes to resolve complex patent litigation. The FTC 2002 Generic 

Drug Study calculated that obtaining a district court resolution of patent issues under the 

Hatch-Waxman Act took on average 25.5 months and that it took over 12 more months to 

obtain a court of appeals decision.187 Given that the patent portfolios for biologic 

products are likely to include patents owned by third party entities, this time could be 

substantially extended.188 Thus, the effect of patent litigation starting after FDA approval 

of an FOB would delay FOB entry beyond the expiration of a limited branded exclusivity 

period. 

 4. Exclusivity Periods Have Been Used When Patent Protection 

 Has Been Insufficient to Incentivize and Reward Innovation 

 Congress has implemented exclusivity periods to encourage the development of 

new and innovative drug products when the drug molecule is in the public domain, and 

therefore not patentable.189 Similarly, exclusivity periods have been used to incentivize 

the post-FDA approval clinical trials for new uses of existing drug products. For 

example, the Hatch-Waxman Act provides a five-year exclusivity period to incentivize 

the development of new chemical entities. It also provides a three-year exclusivity period 

for new clinical investigations (“NCI”) of small-molecule drugs.190 

 In other instances, Congress has implemented an exclusivity period when marketbased pricing has not provided sufficient incentive to develop drug products for target 

populations. For example, 6-months of marketing exclusivity periods are awarded upon 

the showing of safety and effectiveness for children. A seven-year marketing exclusivity 

period is awarded to manufacturers of drug products that treat diseases affecting less than 

200,000 persons in the United States.191

 

187 See FEDERAL TRADE COMM’N, GENERIC DRUG ENTRY PRIOR TO PATENT EXPIRATION: AN FTC STUDY 

(JULY 2002), at iiii, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2002/07/genericdrugstudy.pdf. 

188 See infra Chapter 3. 

189 See BIO Comment (5/1/09) at 7-9 (Benjamin Roin, Unpatentable Drugs and the Standards of 

Patentability 87 TEX. L. REV. (forthcoming)). 

190 See Appendix B for a description of the marketing exclusivities for small-molecule drug products. 

191 See Orphan Drug Act (“ODA”), 21 U.S.C.A. § 360aa et seq. (2009), 21 C.F.R. § 316 et seq.; FDA, 

Office of Orphan Products Dev’t, Cong. Findings For the ODA (“ [B]ecause so few individuals are affected 

by any one rare disease or condition, a pharmaceutical company which develops an orphan drug may 

reasonably expect the drug to generate relatively small sales in comparison to the cost of developing the 

drug and consequently to incur a financial loss; there is reason to believe that some promising orphan drugs 

will not be developed unless changes are made in the applicable Federal laws to reduce the costs of 

developing such drugs and to provide financial incentives to develop such drugs.”) available at

http://www.fda.gov/orphan/oda.htm. It is likely that the patents for orphan drugs and not the 7-year ODA 

exclusivity period provide the greatest incentive to innovators. See Robert Rogoyski, The Orphan Drug 

44
Central to each of these exclusivities is a public policy trade-off: a restriction on 

competition is provided in return for a development of a new drug product or new use of 

an existing product. A 12- to 14-year exclusivity period, however, departs sharply from 

this basic trade-off, because it does not spur the creation of a new product or indication. 

The drug has already been incentivized through patent protection and market-based 

pricing. 

 To the extent that there are new biologic molecules that cannot obtain patent 

protection, an exclusivity period may be warranted. Because there is no evidence about 

the lack of patentability of new biologic products, nor that market forces have been 

insufficient to incentivize their development, the Commission has not recommended a 

length of an exclusivity period. 

 One benefit of an FOB approval process is that it provides an efficient way to 

advance scientific progress and commercialization of that scientific innovation. An FOB 

approval process eliminates unnecessary clinical tests and allows competition to generate 

better consumer products at lower prices. The potential harm posed by a 12- to 14-year 

exclusivity period is that firms will direct scarce R&D dollars toward developing low-risk 

clinical and safety data for drug products with previously proven efficacy rather than 

toward new inventions to address unmet medical needs. Thus, a new 12- to 14-year 

branded exclusivity period imperils the efficiency benefits of an FOB approval process in 

the first place. 

 In addition, a 12- to 14-year branded exclusivity period could undermine the 

patent system’s disclosure function as pioneer manufacturers rely on trade secrets rather 

than patents to protect their inventions. Because the patent system requires public 

disclosure, it promotes the dissemination of scientific and technical information that 

would not occur but for the grant of a patent. The scientific community can then learn 

and design around the invention. The ability to design around is prevalent for patent 

claims covering the formulation or dosage of drug products, product-by-process claims, 

and process claims – all of which currently protect pioneer biologic products. To the 

extent that the branded exclusivity period replaces the need for the patent, the scientific 

community loses the disclosure of inventions that occurs when patents are granted and 

published, and innovation could be harmed. 

D. The Nature Model Fails to Inform Reliably the Length of a Branded 

 Exclusivity Period 

Pioneer manufacturers have developed the Nature model to show that the optimal 

length of branded exclusivity should be approximately 14 years. The Nature model, as 

currently presented, contains numerous methodological and conceptual weaknesses that 

 Act and the Myth of the Exclusivity Incentive, 7 COLUM. SCI. & TECH. L. REV 2 (2006), 

http://www.stlr.org/volumes/volume-vii-2005-2006/rogoyski/. According to one study, the majority of 

orphan drugs are protected by patents with both a broader scope than the disorder specific ODA, and a 

longer duration than the 7-year ODA exclusivity period. Id. at 18, Figure 1. 

45
render its results too imprecise and non-robust to inform discussions about the length of 

an exclusivity period. A model that balances the benefits of FOB competition with the 

costs of potentially forsaking marginal branded drug development projects would be 

more informative than the Nature model’s approach.192 

Appendix A further explains and evaluates the assumptions underlying the Nature 

model. A brief summary of the problems includes: 

 Imprecision: The estimates of costs and revenues used in the model are based on 

extremely small samples of drug products and are likely imprecise. 

 Inelastic Demand: Most versions of the model currently assume that the overall 

quantity of the drug produced and sold will not expand with FOB entry although 

they assume that FOB entry will lead to lower prices. 

 Internal Inconsistency: The ad hoc assumptions about the branded 

manufacturers’ price decrease and market share decline following FOB entry are 

not necessarily consistent with the likely market dynamics of FOB competition. 

 Excessive Aggregation: 

o The revenue estimates do not distinguish between the original and 

subsequent indications and formulations, so an independent analyst cannot 

modify the framework to calculate the break-even point for just the 

original indication and formulation. 

o The model is based on a portfolio of biologic drugs that includes 

blockbuster drugs as well as drugs with relatively less in sales and profit. 

The use of an average revenue stream likely produces an exclusivity 

period that overprotects the top-selling drugs which are the only drugs 

likely to face FOB entry when the branded exclusivity period ends. 

 Non-Robustness: The model’s results are extremely sensitive to small changes in 

the cost of capital193 and other assumptions. 

 

192 Such an approach would require, at a minimum, R&D cost information to which the FTC does not have 

access. 

193 The cost of capital is the annual rate of return that an investor would require. Grabowski, NATURE at 

480. 

46
CHAPTER 3 COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF A PRE-APPROVAL 

 PATENT RESOLUTION PROCESS

I. INTRODUCTION 

Patent protection fuels the biotechnology industry’s R&D engine.194 As discussed 

in Chapter 2, patent protection and market-based pricing enable biotechnology firms to 

increase their expected profits from investments in R&D, thus fostering innovation that 

would not occur without patents’ exclusionary rights.195 

 Special procedures to provide an early start to resolving patent disputes between 

pioneer and FOB manufacturers prior to FDA approval of the FOB product are unlikely 

to be successful to facilitate FOB entry. Although special procedures govern patent 

litigation between branded and generic competitors over small-molecule drug products, 

these procedures are the exception, not the norm. In every industry, including the 

biotechnology industry, competing firms have engaged in patent litigation in which the 

patent holder initiates infringement litigation or the alleged infringer seeks a declaratory 

judgment of non-infringement or invalidity. In the biotechnology industry, this process 

usually begins following FDA approval of the competing drug product.196 

 The special procedures for small-molecule drugs were designed in 1984 to 

address the issue of “judgment proof” generic defendants. In this context, the profits of 

the alleged infringer (the generic entrant) are substantially less than the loss of profits by 

the branded product manufacturer, because of the substantial price differences between 

branded and generic products. Consequently, generic entrants in small-molecule drug 

markets are unlikely to be able to satisfy a potential treble damage award for infringing 

the branded manufacturer’s patents. 

This chapter explains that FOB entrants will not be similarly judgment proof. 

FOB entrants are not expected to offer the deep discounts seen in small-molecule drug 

competition. Rather, FOB entry is likely to resemble the market impact of entry by 

subsequent branded entrants. An FOB manufacturer is likely to introduce its FOB 

product at prices 10 to 30 percent lower than the pioneer manufacturer’s price. Because 

 

194 See Patent Reform: The Future of American Innovation, Hearing Before S. Judiciary Comm., 110th 

Cong. (2007) (statement of Kathryn L. Bieberstein on behalf of the Biotechnology Organization) (“The 

biotechnology industry, fueled by the strength of the U.S. patent system, has provided jobs for over 

200,000 people in the United States, and has generated hundreds of drug products, medical diagnostic tests, 

biotech crops, and environmental products.”), available at

http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=2803&wit_id=6508 [hereinafter, “Bieberstein 

Statement”]. 

195 F.M. Scherer & David Ross, INDUSTRIAL MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, 621 (3d 

ed. 1990). 

196 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 22 (“Biotechnology patent disputes today can be adjudicated within a 

relatively stable doctrinal framework that is expected to solidify further as biotechnology matures both as a 

science as an industry.”). 

47
FOB entrants will earn greater profits, and will be able to satisfy potential damage 

awards, the market dynamics of FOB competition do not justify creation of a special 

regulatory system to protect pioneer manufacturers from judgment-proof defendants. 

Although FOB market entry would be eased if an FOB manufacturer had 

complete certainty as to whether its product infringed the pioneer product’s patents, a 

pre-FDA approval patent resolution process is unlikely to provide greater certainty than 

use of existing statutory patent resolution mechanisms.197 A special pre-approval patent 

resolution process is not likely to succeed in raising and resolving all pertinent patent 

issues prior to FDA approval. Patents claiming the pioneer product may issue after a preapproval process has begun and/or after FDA approval. In either situation, the FOB 

manufacturer will need to resolve these later-issued patents before commercial 

marketing. The FOB manufacturer’s application and product also may change during the 

approval process such that by starting patent litigation prior to FDA approval would not 

ensure earlier resolution. Moreover, without a mechanism to enforce the rules of a preapproval resolution process, there is no guarantee that litigation that is started prior to 

FDA approval will end earlier. Incorporating a pre-approval patent resolution process 

into a 12- to 14-year branded exclusivity period is unlikely to mitigate these problems. 

Based on the experience under Hatch-Waxman, a pre-approval patent resolution 

process also is likely to lead to consumer harm, including the facilitation of 

anticompetitive conduct that defeats the purpose of starting the patent litigation early. In 

the Hatch-Waxman context, branded manufacturers have used the pre-approval patent 

regulations to delay generic entry. In addition, generic and branded competitors have 

entered into “pay-for-delay” patent settlements that delay entry, not encourage it. It is 

likely that a pre-approval patent resolution process in the FOB context could facilitate 

collusive agreements and/or provide the pioneer biologic drug manufacturer with 

competitively sensitive information about a significant potential competitor to which it 

otherwise would not have access. 

 

197 To the extent that a pre-approval process is designed to address allegations of poor biotechnology patent 

quality, these issues may be better addressed in efforts to examine patent reform more broadly. Recent 

Congressional testimony addressed biotechnology issues in the context of patent reform. See, e.g., Patent 

Reform in the 111th Congress: Legislation and Recent Court Decisions: Hearings Before the S. Judiciary 

Comm., 111th Cong. (2009). 

48
II. THE LIKELY EFFECTS OF AN FOB PRE-APPROVAL PATENT 

 RESOLUTION PROCESS 

A. Background on the Hatch-Waxman Pre-Approval Patent Resolution 

 Process 

 Current law exempts the FOB manufacturer from patent infringement liability for 

work directed towards petitioning the FDA for product approval.198 To be liable for 

infringement, an FOB manufacturer must take steps separate and apart from seeking FDA 

approval, in essence, it must import, make, use, sell, or offer to sell its product.199 The 

FOB manufacturer, however, is unlikely to take these steps until it receives FDA approval. 

Consequently, to have patent litigation begin before FDA approval of the FOB, Congress 

must create an “artificial act of patent infringement” and a mechanism to resolve 

subsequent patent litigation (a “pre-approval patent resolution process”). 

Hatch-Waxman established special procedures to incentivize generic smallmolecule drug manufacturers to challenge invalid or narrow patents on branded products. 

These procedures allowed the patent resolution process to run concurrently with the FDA 

regulatory approval process. Of course, to the extent a generic applicant seeks entry on the 

day the last patent claiming the branded drug product expires, these procedures are not 

utilized.200

To effectuate the pre-approval patent resolution process, Hatch-Waxman requires 

branded manufacturers to list certain patents claiming the branded drug product in the 

FDA’s Orange Book. A generic applicant is then required to certify whether it seeks FDA 

approval prior to the expiration of any of the patents listed in the Orange Book that covers 

the referenced branded product. If it does, the generic company must provide notice to 

patent holders and the branded product manufacturer. The notice must include a detailed 

statement of the factual and legal basis supporting the applicant’s assertion that the listed 

patents are invalid or not infringed. 

To incentivize early pre-approval litigation and resolution, if the branded 

manufacturer brings infringement litigation within 45 days from notice, the FDA cannot 

 

198 35 U.S.C.A. § 271(e)(1) (2009) (“It shall not be an act of infringement to make, use, offer to sell, or sell 

within the United States or import into the United States a patented invention (other than a new animal drug 

or veterinary biological product (as those terms are used in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and 

the Act of March 4, 1913) which is primarily manufactured using recombinant DNA, recombinant RNA, 

hybridoma technology, or other processes involving site specific genetic manipulation techniques) solely 

for uses reasonably related to the development and submission of information under a Federal law which 

regulates the manufacture, use, or sale of drugs or veterinary biological products.”). 

199 Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd., 545 U.S. 193 (2005). 

200 See Appendix B for a description of the patent resolution process in the Hatch-Waxman Act. 

49
approve the generic application for 30 months.201 If the branded manufacturer does not 

initiate litigation within 45 days, the FDA is free to approve the generic application in its 

normal course. 

B. Commenters' and Panelists' Views on the Likely Effects of an FOB 

 Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process 

Panelists and commenters described the likely benefits of developing a pre-approval 

patent resolution process derived from the Hatch-Waxman Act. Panelists suggested patent 

infringement certainty would enhance their drug development activities.202 They also 

suggested that a pre-approval patent resolution process is likely to preclude FOB at-risk 

launches, which occur when a company launches its product without knowing if all 

product-related patent issues are resolved.203 Other panelists predicted that certainty is 

likely to attract venture capital resources,204 and suggested that smaller companies may not 

be in a position to launch-at-risk because they are unlikely to attract investment funds 

without certainty.205 Another panelist predicted that without a pre-approval resolution 

process, pioneer manufacturers would not be able to enforce injunctive relief against an 

FOB entrant and that this would lead to compulsory licensing of patents rather than 

removal of the product from market.206 

Panelists and commenters described the likely effects of linking FDA approval to 

the outcome of patent litigation, as it is done under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Panelists 

representing pioneer manufacturers explained that if a court finds a pioneer product’s 

patent to be valid and infringed, the FDA should not approve the infringing FOB product 

until the patent expires.207 Another suggested that tying FDA approval to patent resolution 

 

201 This “30-month stay” expires at the earliest of: (1) the date the patent(s) expire; (2) a final determination 

of non-infringement or patent invalidity by a court in the patent litigation; or (3) the expiration of the 30 

months from receipt of notice of the paragraph IV certification. 

202 See, e.g., Amgen (9/30/08) Comment at 20 (certainty may increase FOB uptake if physicians are more 

likely to prescribe an FOB after the product has cleared patent hurdles); Essential Action Comment 

(12/20/08) at 7 (“should be to clear patent claims so that a) invalid patents do not delay investment in, or 

introduction of, generic or similar products; b) non-applicable patents do not delay investment in, or 

introduction of, generic or similar products; and c) all potential patent claims are resolved in advance of 

any applicable marketing exclusivities.”); Manspeizer at 229; Leicher at 232; and Dow at 295-96. 

203 Hospira Comment (9/30/08) at 7 (“Due to the greater uncertainty surrounding the valid scope of patents 

and the lack of jurisprudence resulting from an immature biopharmaceutical industry as compared to a 

small molecule drug . . . this will operate as a significant disincentive to launch of a biogeneric and will 

thus operate as a disincentive to competition.”); Seide at 238; and Siwik at 224-25. 

204 Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 20; BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 20. 

205 Leicher at 232. 

206 Sauer at 227. 

207 Id. at 271. 

50
would “keep follow-on biologics that infringe a patent off the market by preventing final 

FDA approval until patent expiry.”208

One panelist and commenter representing a potential FOB entrant suggested that 

linkage is unnecessary because existing patent law provides for robust protection of patent 

rights against infringement and is sufficient to deter inappropriate entry.209 This panelist 

explained that launching-at-risk currently is the norm in the biotech industry.210 He also 

explained that the generic small-molecule industry is the only industry that has an artificial 

act of infringement, and “that was a result of the state of the industry in 1984, and we don’t 

believe [it] is required with the state of the industry in 2008.”211 

Another panelist noted that linkage may be unworkable because biologic patent 

portfolios often include patents that have been licensed to third parties. Infringing one of 

these patents may not lead to a permanent injunction, and thus should not preclude FDA 

approval.212 Another panelist added that the patent holder may obtain an injunction 

notwithstanding the fact that they have licensed the patent to other parties.213

Participants also described the likely unintended consequences of a pre-approval 

patent resolution process, which include: delay of FOB entry, distortions to the parties’ 

incentives during the process, and increased costs.214 For example, one panelist suggested 

that the process can cause unintended delay, noting that for small-molecule drugs, HatchWaxman has led to “serial litigation.”215 Another panelist focused on the likelihood of 

wasteful litigation.216 

 

208 Wyeth Comment (9/30/08) at 9; see also Wyeth Comment (12/18/08) at 13 (“In order to provide 

certainty to all parties concerning the outcome of any patent resolution mechanism, a linkage system is 

required.”). 

209 Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 19; and Goldman at 231 (“Decoupling will avoid premature challenges 

to biotech patent estates ahead of the prospect of imminent commercialization, and current law provides 

robust protection for those rights when infringement occurs.”). 

210 Goldman at 230 (“There’s not a single product that hasn’t come on the market in which launching at risk 

hasn’t been a key issue. And companies are – all of us here have the ability to take that business risk into 

consideration and decide whether or not to launch at risk.”); see also id. (“[T]he need for an early 

resolution, early litigation because of the fear of launching at risk is not a serious one we contend.”); and 

Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 19. 

211 Goldman at 230-31 (explaining that “[t]here’s no artificial act of infringement in the European scheme 

as well, so it’s a real aberration.”). 

212 Siwik at 273-74. 

213 Kushan at 276-77. 

214 Siwik at 224-25 (“[I]t's important to have a mechanism in the bill for resolving certain patent disputes 

concurrent with FDA review, but the big but is, if the system doesn’t work, if whatever this patent 

mechanism is doesn’t work, I guess work in the sense that it can delay market launch.”). 

215 Goldman at 231 (“You litigate one patent followed by another patent, and that can really extend the 

litigation pre-approval.”). 

51
Panelists also described how a pre-approval resolution process will distort parties’ 

incentives. One panelist explained that the process will “create bounties on valid patents” 

by producing an incentive for an FOB to challenge patents before it has shown it can 

develop an approvable drug.217 By starting the process early, that is prior to FDA approval, 

parties are encouraged to bring multiple litigations, where, if they brought litigation at the 

end of the process, there may be greater incentive to raise only the strongest patents.218 

Commenters also explained how if litigation begins too early, the FOB application and 

product also may change during the approval process such that an early start to litigation 

prior to FDA approval would not ensure an earlier resolution. Rather, an early start to 

litigation would lead to additional litigation upon finalization of the application and the 

FOB product.219 Panelists also described how unnecessarily-early litigation processes will 

increase pioneer and FOB costs, explaining that a pre-approval patent resolution process 

likely will “bring[] on expensive litigation costs earlier when you might not want to do 

that.”220

C. Analysis of the Likely Effects of a Pre-Approval Patent Resolution 

 Process 

 1. The Likely Market Impact of FOB Drug Entry Does Not 

 Warrant a Special Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process 

The justification for special procedures akin to those in Hatch-Waxman for smallmolecule drugs depends upon the context in which FOB competition is likely to proceed. 

As discussed in Chapter 1, FOB competitors are likely to seek approval of biosimilar 

 

216 Kepplinger at 267 (“[I]t seems like one of the lessons from Hatch-Waxman, and many people have 

talked about it, is that there’s quite a lot of litigation, and it seems like in designing the situation, we should 

be looking to try to reduce the litigation because it is just a lot of money that could probably be better spent 

on other things, like designing more pharmaceuticals.”). 

217 Goldman at 242-43; Novartis Comment (9/29/08) at 18-19. 

218 Goldman at 231 (“[A]nd besides that, we also see in those cases that there’s serial litigation. You 

litigate one patent followed by another patent, and that can really extend the litigation pre-approval. Post 

approval, there’s no incentive for serial litigation. You would want to bring your best patents quickly to get 

the product off the market.”). 

219 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 21 (“Patent litigation would be premature if it were allowed to commence 

before a determination that the FOB application in question is complete and in condition for review without 

additional clinical studies.”); see also Wyeth Comment (12/18/2008) at 13 (“[a] patent resolution 

proceeding should not be initiated at a point in time that is too early, when the details of the biosimilar 

product are not yet fully defined or manufacturing processes still are subject to change.”). 

220 Goldman at 240-41 (“[I]t surprises me that . . . the companies that are worried about not having enough 

money are the ones that are advocating jumping into expensive litigation 30 months early. I would think 

that you would want to avoid that, the litigation . . . . [Y]ou may in fact be bringing on expensive litigation 

costs earlier when you might not want to do that.”); see also Siwik at 225. 

52
products. The competitive dynamics of biosimilar entry are likely to resemble entry by a 

branded drug product, in which FOB competitors introduce their products at discounts 

between 10 and 30 percent of the pioneer products’ price. This effect contrasts with the 80 

percent discounts that occur with entry of multiple small-molecule generic products.221 

The competition prompted by biosimilar entry is unlikely to move more than 10 to 30 

percent market share away from the pioneer manufacturer. This market share movement is 

substantially less than the market share gain that small-molecule generic drugs obtain due 

to state substitution of generic drugs. Because of smaller discounts and smaller market 

share, the FOB entrant is unlikely to be judgment-proof and thus able to pay any possible 

damages resulting from infringing a pioneer product’s patents. 

Because FOB entrants are likely to mimic the market effects of another branded 

product, the FOB and pioneer manufacturer can avail themselves of the existing patent 

litigation procedures that apply to every industry, except generic small-molecule drugs. 

Biologic drug manufacturers have successfully used this process to resolve patent litigation 

for decades.222 It is the same process all patent holders use to resolve claims of 

infringement or validity – the patent holder initiates infringement litigation after the FDA 

has approved the potentially infringing drug product, or the alleged infringer seeks a 

declaratory judgment of non-infringement or invalidity. For example, the Supreme Court 

has addressed biotechnology patent disputes in Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. 

and MedImmune Inc. v. Genentech, Inc.

223 Lower courts also have addressed patent 

infringement litigation against competing products that had obtained FDA approval but had 

not yet been marketed.224

In other words, the patent holder can use existing court remedies to enforce its 

patent rights against an FOB, without developing special procedures that condition FDA 

approval on the outcome of patent litigation. Although the lack of a pre-approval patent 

resolution process increases the potential for at-risk launches by an FOB, a profitmaximizing FOB manufacturer is unlikely to enter the market “at-risk” if it believes it will 

 

221 See, e.g., David Reiffen and M.R. Ward, “Branded Generics” As A Strategy To Limit Cannibalization 

of Pharmaceutical Markets, 28 MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS 251, 264 (2005), available at 

http://ftc.gov/be/healthcare/wp/12_Reiffen_BrandedGenericsAsAStrategy.pdf

222 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 22. 

223 MedImmune Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. 549 U.S. 118, 137 (2007) (holding that a licensee has standing to 

bring a declaratory judgment action for non-infringement); Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd., 

545 U.S. 193, 206-08 (2005) (clarifying 35 U.S.C.A. 271(e)(1)). 

224 See, e.g., Amgen, Inc. v. Chugai Pharm. Co., 927 F.2d 1200, 1219 (Fed. Cir. 1991) (affirming trial 

court’s finding that certain claims covering purified and isolated DNA sequences encoding EPO and host 

cells transformed or transfected with a DNA sequence were valid and infringed and reversing finding that 

other claims were enabled); Amgen, Inc. v. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77343 (D. 

Mass. 2008) (granting permanent injunction for infringement of claims directed to a specific amino acid 

sequence); see also, Amgen Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel, 579 F. Supp. 2d 199, 210 (D. Mass. 2008); 

Bayer HealthCare LLC v. Abbott Labs., Civ. Action No. 6:08cv507 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 24, 2008). Abbott 

countersued in Massachusetts: Abbott Labs. v. Bayer Healthcare LLC, 09cv40002, U.S. District Court for 

the District of Massachusetts, 09cv40002 (D. Mass. June 5, 2009). 

53
be liable for substantial infringement damages, cause physician and patient confusion, or 

harm its reputation as a reliable FOB drug manufacturer. 

 2. A Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process is Unlikely to 

 Provide Certainty and is Likely to Disrupt Innovation 

 Incentives 

A pre-approval patent resolution process is unlikely to achieve the certainty goals 

desired by pioneer and FOB manufacturers for three reasons. First, pioneer 

manufacturers with vulnerable patents have no incentive to have their patents invalidated 

or held not infringed by the FOB drug, especially if such a determination were to come 

several years before patent expiration or before FOB entry was imminent. In other 

situations, a pioneer manufacturer or third party may license its patents to other market 

participants where the license creates a revenue stream for the patent holder. If these 

patents are deemed invalid, the patent holder loses this revenue stream. 

Experience under Hatch-Waxman shows that profit-maximizing manufacturers are 

likely to use a pre-approval regulatory process to delay a final court decision.225 In other 

instances, pioneer manufacturers may seek to bring suit in a judicial district with a history 

or reputation of slow-moving proceedings or they may fail to participate in the process, 

thus requiring the generic firm to bring a declaratory judgment action.226 Pioneer 

manufacturers also may attempt to hold back relevant patents during this pre-approval 

process if the regulations are subject to interpretation or the penalty for violating the rules 

provides an insufficient deterrent. These tactics can succeed because the FOB product has 

not been approved and the FOB manufacturer is unable to threaten market entry to further 

the process along. 

 By contrast, if litigation were to begin post-approval, the way in which branded 

biologic competitors resolve patent issues currently, a patent holder is likely to assert its 

strongest patents to keep the FOB product off the market. This process naturally focuses 

 

225 Prior to 2003, if a branded manufacturer listed an additional patent in the Orange Book after the generic 

applicant filed its ANDA, more than one 30-month stay could be generated. The generic applicant was 

required to re-certify to this later-listed patent, and if, upon notice of the generic’s re-certification, the 

brand-name company sued within 45 days, then FDA approval of the generic’s previously filed ANDA was 

stayed for an additional 30-months from the notice date or until a court decision in the newly instituted 

patent litigation. FTC GENERIC DRUG STUDY at iii. In 2003, Congress amended the Hatch-Waxman Act to 

address this problem, “allowing lower-priced generic products to enter the market more quickly.” Joint 

Explanatory Text to the MMA Conference Agreement, H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 108-391, at 836 (2003), 

reprinted in 2004 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2187. Now, a generic applicant who amends a pending ANDA to include 

Paragraph IV certifications to later-listed patents is not subject to a 30-month stay on the amended 

certification. 21 C.F.R. § 314.94(a)(l2)(vi). This conduct is not unexpected. See Robert H. Bork, THE 

ANTITRUST PARADOX 347 (1978) (“The modern profusion of [. . .] governmental authorities offers almost 

limitless possibilities for abuse.”). 

226 See, e.g., Teva Pharm., USA, Inc. v. FDA, 182 F.3d 1003 (D. C. Cir 1999), see also Siwik at 289 (“[I]n 

Hatch-Waxman we learned that there are rules, but if there are no sticks, the rules are going to go out the 

window.”). 

54
litigation on the strongest patents, and reduces unnecessary pre-approval litigation 

regarding patents that may not be asserted after FDA approval.227 

Moreover, without special pre-approval processes, there would be no need to 

change the declaratory judgment standards or rules. Even if the pioneer manufacturer did 

not initiate patent infringement litigation, the newly-approved FOB entrant would have 

standing to seek a declaration that the pioneer manufacturer’s patents are invalid or not 

infringed. 

Second, a start to litigation prior to FDA approval does not guarantee that patent 

issues will be resolved earlier than if litigation begins after FDA approval. Patents 

claiming the pioneer product may issue after a pre-approval process has begun, but before 

FOB approval. Patents also may issue after FOB approval. In either situation, the pioneer 

manufacturer, or third party, will need to bring additional litigation to enforce these laterissued patents, removing the certainty sought by the parties. The FOB’s application and 

product also may change during the approval process, such that early patent litigation 

would no longer apply to the approved product. The litigation would be about a “moving 

target.” Moreover, without an enforcement provision, even with a pre-approval process 

there is no guarantee that litigation will begin pre-approval. Until the FOB product is 

approved, patent infringement litigation may be premature. 

Third, patent litigation under Hatch-Waxman shows that a pre-approval process is 

likely to invite numerous patent challenges. In the Hatch-Waxman context, nearly every 

branded drug faces a pre-approval patent challenge.228 Similarly, in the FOB context, a 

pre-approval patent resolution process may incentivize FOB manufacturers to challenge 

all of a pioneer product’s patents in hope of exposing and exploiting weaknesses in the 

patent portfolio. In contrast, the absence of a pre-approval patent resolution process is 

likely to incentivize FOB manufacturers to direct their product development resources to 

those areas in which the pioneer product’s patents are likely to be invalid or not infringed. 

 3. A Pre-Approval Process is Unlikely to be Workable and is 

 Likely to Cause Harm 

At a minimum, a pre-approval process must include two components: (1) 

notification requirements, including when notification begins; and (2) identification of 

patents to be litigated in the pre-approval period, which could include only “necessary” 

patents. The following sections describe how these procedures are unnecessary, could lead 

to anticompetitive outcomes, and defeat the purpose of a pre-approval process to obtain 

early resolution of potential patent infringement issues. 

 

227 To the extent that the branded company brings suit in a slow-moving venue, the FOB has a variety of 

tools to force expeditious resolution of its case. 

228 Norman at 201. 

55
In addition, strong enforcement of the governing regulations for the pre-approval 

process will be necessary to deter abuse by the participants that seek to use the process to 

obtain competitive advantages. It is likely that a self-policing process will not work and 

that FDA will be asked to referee the process, much like it has been forced to do with the 

Hatch-Waxman process. 

a. Notice Provisions are Unnecessary and Could Raise 

 Anticompetitive Concerns 

To be effective, a pre-approval patent resolution process will need to incorporate 

two major types of notice: (1) the pioneer manufacturer will need to provide notice to 

potential FOB manufacturers of patent claims covering its pioneer products; and (2) the 

FOB manufacturer will need to provide notice to the pioneer manufacturer of its FDA 

application.229 

 (1). Patents Claiming the Pioneer Drug Product are 

 Publicly Available 

Although the first type of notice is likely to help the FOB identify which patent 

claims its product may infringe, it is unnecessary given that granted patents and post-2000 

patent applications are published by the PTO.230 FOB manufacturers can use existing 

databases to perform a patent search, as companies in many industries do, to determine 

patent claims that its product may infringe.231 This search would apply to patents owned 

by the pioneer manufacturer and any applicable third parties. 

In addition, the Patent Act currently requires patent holders to provide notice of 

potentially infringed patents. A patentee cannot recover damages for infringement until it 

(1) marks the product; or (2) provides the alleged infringer with actual notice of the 

infringement.232 If the product, or its packaging, is not physically marked with applicable 

patent numbers, then the patentee can give notice either by sending a warning letter to the 

 

229 Wyeth Comment (12/18/2008). Some panelists explained that there should be “[f]ull disclosure by all 

participants early in the patent resolution mechanism,” calling for patent holders to provide “full disclosure 

of the patents at issue in any dispute” while FOBs would provide “full disclosure of their application for 

regulatory approval, including all manufacturing process details.” Id.

230 Patent applications filed on or after November 29, 2000 are published eighteen months after the 

effective filing date of the application. One commenter noted the existence of “submarine” patent 

applications, a subset of patent applications filed before November 29, 2000 that are not published until the 

patent is granted. Applications with an effective filing date on or after June 8, 1995 expire 20 years from 

filing. Applications with an effective filing date before June 8, 1995 expire 17 years from patent grant. 

See Hospira Comment (9/22/08) at 4-5. While this can present issues of extended patent terms for old 

technology, this problem applies across the industry and likely does not outweigh the likely anticompetitive 

effects of a notice provision. 

231 See http://www.uspto.gov/main/patents.htm. 

232 35 U.S.C.A. § 287(a) (2009). 

56
alleged infringer, or by bringing a suit for infringement.233 The notice must identify the 

patent(s) and specifically allege infringement.234 For process patents only, an additional 

“request for disclosure” applies. Before it sells its product, a competitor or potential 

competitor may request a patent holder to produce all process patents that the patent holder 

believes could be infringed by the competitor’s product.235 These notice procedures would 

apply to follow-on biologic drugs even if there were no pre-approval patent resolution 

process. 

A patent listing system also is likely to lead to anticompetitive unintended 

consequences. For example, Hatch-Waxman’s notice provision led to the delay of generic 

entry until the notice provisions were amended by the Act’s 2003 Amendments. As 

discussed above, a branded manufacturer must list certain patents in the FDA’s Orange 

Book.236 The generic then files a certification regarding each patent. If the branded 

manufacturer then brings an infringement action within 45 days, FDA approval of the 

ANDA automatically is stayed for 30 months.237

Over time, branded manufacturers began successively to list later-issued patents in 

the Orange Book. A number of these later-listed patents did not meet the FDA’s 

requirements for listing patents in the Orange Book and were subsequently found to be 

invalid or not infringed.238 This strategy allowed the branded manufacturer to obtain 

additional 30-month stays delaying FDA approval of generic drugs. Congress remedied 

this problem in the Medicare Modernization Act by limiting branded drug companies to a 

single 30-month stay, but only after consumers lost substantial competition from generic 

drugs during the periods of these “stacked” 30-month stays. 

 

 (2). Notice of the FOB’s Application Raises 

 Competitive Concerns 

The FOB manufacturer’s notice to the pioneer manufacturer of its FDA application 

and additional manufacturing information raises two concerns – one administrative and one 

anticompetitive. First, there is a difficulty in determining to whom the notice should be 

provided. Biologic drug patents implicate more than the pioneer manufacturer; they also 

 

233 American Medical Sys., Inc. v. Medical Eng’g Corp., 6 F.3d 1523, 1538 (Fed. Cir. 1993). 

234 Amstead Indus., Inc. v. Buckeye Steel Castings Co., 24 F.3d 178, 185-87 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (finding lack 

of notice where the letter did not specifically charge the recipient with infringement and did not identify an 

infringing device). 

235 35 U.S.C.A. § 287(b)(4) (2009). 

236See 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(b)(1) (2009) and Appendix B for a detailed description of the Hatch-Waxman 

abbreviated drug approval process. 

237 21 U.S.C.A. §355(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV) and § 355(j)(5)(B)(iii) (2009). 

238 Fed. Trade Comm’n, GENERIC DRUG ENTRY PRIOR TO PATENT EXPIRATION: AN FTC STUDY 18 (July 

2002), available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2002/07/genericdrugstudy.pdf. 

57
implicate universities and third parties. If notice is provided only to the pioneer 

manufacturer, an early start to patent resolution may not involve all of the relevant parties 

and patents, thus defeating the purpose of the pre-approval process. Conversely, if notice is 

provided to all parties, it may overly complicate the process and deter early resolution. 

Indeed, one panelist suggested “[t]he whole issue of notice should be as simple as possible, 

but some of the issues are more complex than we see even in the more complex drug 

situations.”239 This complexity is likely to reduce the effectiveness of a notice requirement 

and raise questions over whether sufficient notice had been provided in a timely manner. 

 

In addition, requiring the FOB manufacturer to provide a detailed description of the 

product and manufacturing processes to the pioneer manufacturer and other third parties 

could facilitate anticompetitive conduct.240 As discussed in Chapter 1, the FOB 

manufacturer is likely to compete against the pioneer product with a similar, but not 

identical, product. The FOB product could be an improvement over the pioneer product in 

terms of reduced dosing, increased effectiveness, or fewer side effects. In other cases, the 

FOB product manufacturer may have discovered a way to manufacture an FOB product 

more efficiently than the pioneer manufacturer. In either scenario, the firms are likely to be 

significant rivals and engage in head-to-head competition. 

 Forced sharing of information between rivals about the timing and content of the 

FOB’s application and manufacturing processes (and other related matters) could 

facilitate collusion.241 For example, this information could facilitate agreements to delay 

entry, allocate markets, or fix prices. Experience under Hatch-Waxman has shown that 

generic and branded competitors have entered into “pay-for-delay” patent settlements that 

delay entry. In other situations, the anticompetitive harm could stem from providing the 

pioneer manufacturer with competitively sensitive information that it otherwise would 

not be able to obtain. The pioneer manufacturer may then have an opportunity to act on 

this information prior to the approval of the FOB and thus, can pre-empt the innovation 

and price competition that is likely to occur with FOB entry. This harm is lessened, 

although not eliminated, with patent litigation after FDA approval because the FOB can 

enter quickly and blunt any harm that could be caused by a sharing of competitively 

significant information. 

Moreover, sharing this type of information may be unnecessary to the extent that 

the FOB manufacturer claims that the pioneer manufacturer’s patents are invalid. In these 

 

239 Seide at 266. 

240 Kushan at 257-58 (“[T]he notice should include a detailed description of the FOB’s product, including 

the amino acid sequence produced, the nucleic acid sequence, expression technologies, process 

technologies, manufacturing process information, molecular structure, formulation, patent certifications, 

molecular identity and intended uses.”). 

241 Fed. Trade Comm’n and U.S. Dep’t of Justice, ANTITRUST GUIDELINES FOR COLLABORATIONS AMONG 

COMPETITORS 12 (2000). 

58
situations, the pioneer manufacturer has no need for detailed information relating to the 

FOB’s method of manufacturing.242

 Confidentiality provisions that limit access to information about the FOB product 

to persons involved in the pre-approval patent litigation process are likely to be 

ineffective to safeguard against these potential anticompetitive harms. Biotechnology 

patent litigation is a complex endeavor that requires not only patent attorneys, but 

medical, scientific, manufacturing, and business personnel with intimate knowledge 

about the pioneer product’s patent claims. There is no way to cordon off a patent 

infringement analysis regarding the FOB drug product from the personnel that know the 

most about the pioneer product.243 

b. Identification of a Subset of Patents to Resolve During the 

 Pre-Approval Patent Resolution Process Defeats the 

 Purpose of a Pre-Approval Resolution Process 

A pre-approval patent resolution process will need to account for the broad range of 

patents claiming a pioneer product and their multiple owners. As described in Chapter 2, 

the types of patents that are likely to claim the biologic product include compound or 

molecule patents, method of treatment, formulation and dosage form patents, and 

manufacturing process and technology platform patents. Due to the nature of biologic 

drugs, these portfolios may include patents owned by the pioneer manufacturer,244 as well 

as third-party owned patents that are licensed either exclusively or non-exclusively to the 

pioneer manufacturer. 

 

Panelists representing pioneer manufacturers proposed that a pre-approval patent 

resolution process resolve all of the patents claiming a pioneer product.245 Another panelist 

noted that the process should include third-party patents, reasoning that if the patent 

resolution process does not cover third-party patents, then the generic will be susceptible to 

launch-at-risk on those patents.246 

 

242 Patent law places the burden of proof of demonstrating infringement on the patent holder. The patent 

holder may not need the FOB’s application to establish infringement if the FOB’s product already is 

approved. In addition, a notice provision is likely to have the effect of shifting the burden of proof such 

that the FOB has to demonstrate that it does not infringe the patent, rather than under patent law having the 

patent holder show that its patent has been infringed. 

243 Of course, these arguments apply with equal force in the opposite scenario if the FOB manufacturer 

were to obtain confidential information regarding the branded product. 

244 The pioneer manufacturer-owned patents may be out-licensed further to additional third parties. 

245 Kushan at 237. 

246 Seide at 238 (“The technology platform patents are very important . . . and so there has to be some way 

of resolving third-party patents as well if they’re known.”). 

59
As a counterpoint, panelists said that litigating all patents potentially infringed by 

the FOB product could lead to delay. If the process is not tailored, litigation costs could 

outweigh benefits for some FOB companies.247 Commenters representing FOB 

manufacturers explained that the process should be limited to “necessary” patents (i.e., 

patents that would most likely prevent the FOB from entering the market). One commenter 

explained that “it is in the generic’s interest to immediately litigate only those patents that 

would prevent the generic company from launching until questions of validity, 

enforceability, or infringement are resolved. Litigation on all remaining patents would take 

place after the generic product actually enters the market.”248 

It is unclear how a regulatory process could determine which patents are 

“necessary.” Resolving infringement issues for a subset of “necessary” patents may 

streamline that particular litigation, but it is likely to lead to future uncertainty. A patent 

not deemed “necessary” does not mean that the patent is invalid and/or not infringed by the 

FOB manufacturer. The patent holder can still assert these “unnecessary” patents 

following FDA approval of the FOB. Retaining these later “unnecessary” patents is 

unlikely to create the certainty that a pre-approval patent resolution process is intended to 

create. As noted above, additional patents that block FOB entry may issue after the preapproval process has started, thus complicating identification of “necessary” patents and 

frustrating the overall objective of the pre-approval process to obtain certainty regarding 

patent infringement issues. 

 

Furthermore, a two-tier resolution system whereby some patents are “necessary” 

and litigated pre-approval, while others must wait until after FDA approval, will likely 

create additional litigation regarding the determination of "necessary" versus "unnecessary" 

patents. Such litigation will create additional costs detrimental to consumer welfare. 

Moreover, as discussed above, Hatch-Waxman created the incentive for the branded 

manufacturer to “stack” patent notification to obtain multiple 30-month stays. Here, too, 

limiting the process to a subset of patents may create incentives for the brand to withhold 

certain “necessary” patents to retain their rights after FDA approval of the FOB product. 

 c. Enforcement Provisions May Harm Innovation and 

 Competition 

An enforcement provision is likely to be necessary to ensure that the notice and 

patent identification requirements are adhered to during the pre-approval resolution 

process. Without such an enforcement mechanism, the pre-approval process is unlikely to 

be adhered to, and likely to cause unintended consequences that delay FOB entry. 

 

247 Siwik at 226. 

248 Barr Comment (9/30/2008) at 10; CCPM Comment (9/30/2008) at 8; GPHA Comment (9/30/08) at 6; 

Teva Comment (9/30/08) at 6; Leicher at 260 (“If you limit it to the key patents that are built around the 

product that the brand company controls, I think you’ve got it simplified.”). 

60
Several panelists and commenters suggested that a “sue-or-lose” provision in which 

a pioneer manufacturer, or third party, could lose its patent enforcement rights if it did not 

participate in the patent resolution process, is necessary to ensure the integrity of the preapproval patent resolution process.249 One panelist said that without a penalty provision, 

the rules likely will not be enforced, noting that if the pioneer manufacturer holds back 

patents until the end of the exclusivity period, or launch, then any likely effect of early 

resolution will not be achieved.250

 Panelists representing pioneer manufacturers opposed a sue-or-lose provision or a 

provision in which damages are limited for lack of participation in the process.251 One 

commenter said that it likely would lead to gaming, “the patent owner would be forced to 

decide whether to sue based on the information it obtained from the FOB applicant. That 

applicant, in turn, would have an incentive to convince the patent owner not to bring a 

suit.”252 Another panelist explained that a sue-or-lose provision would take away a 

valuable property right from the patent holder for failure to comply with a regulatory 

obligation.253

 

249 Schultz at 290; Essential Action Comment (12/20/2008) at 6 (“[I]nitial registrants should be required at 

the time of the application to indicate any granted or filed patents that they believe apply to the biologic for 

which they seek marketing approval. This should include both patents granted to the registrant or which 

have been licensed to them. They should be required to update this list for any new patent filings, within a 

statutorily defined period, perhaps 30 days. Failure to disclose should forfeit the right to enforce.”). 

250 Siwik at 289 (“If the overall scheme is fair and balanced, maybe we don’t need to worry about huge 

sticks to make people participate, but in Hatch-Waxman we learned that there are rules, but if there are no 

sticks, the rules are going to go out the window. There were statutory definitions of what patents could go 

in the Orange Book, and there were a few companies that abused that, and a list of other patents triggered a 

lot of 30 month stays, and a lot of litigation delays, but no penalties for doing it.”). 

251 Goldman at 287; Kushan at 293 (current laws exists to manage parties who timely fail to enforce their 

patent rights); PhRMA Comment (12/22/08) at 5. 

252 PhRMA Comment (12/22/08) at 5 (The proposal also “could create artificial incentives to litigate, which 

would waste time and money and impose burdens that would not be beneficial for the patent or the judicial 

system.”). 

253 Seide at 288. 

61
Based on experience with the patent resolution process in Hatch-Waxman, 

examples of the need for enforcement could include: 

 If the patent holder’s notice fails to include all of the patents or all of the “necessary” 

patents claiming the pioneer product; 

 If the patent holder fails to update the notice to include patents issued after the patent 

litigation has begun; 

 If the FOB applicant fails to provide a sufficiently detailed description of the FOB 

product, its method of manufacture, or the materials included in the manufacturing; or 

 If either the pioneer manufacturer or FOB applicant fails to provide information in a 

timely manner. 

Experience under Hatch-Waxman also demonstrates that the FDA will be pulled 

into these disputes and asked to resolve substantive patent issues to enforce the rules in any 

patent resolution process.254 Under Hatch-Waxman, the FDA has been asked to determine 

whether patents are correctly listed in the Orange Book. The FDA has consistently 

maintained that it does not have the patent expertise to do so.255 Its resources are likely to 

be best deployed in examining the safety and effectiveness of FOBs, not in policing a 

patent resolution process for which it has little experience and expertise. 

If the FDA were not involved, an enforcement provision could be designed so that 

if a party did not sue under the patent resolution process in a timely manner, it would lose 

its rights to later enforce the patent under provision of the Patent Act. This provision is 

beneficial because in order for the process to have integrity, there must be a mechanism to 

compel parties to participate. On the other hand, it is likely to be an unduly harsh remedy 

in the face of uncertainty as to a determination of “necessary” patents to include in a notice 

or the extent of detail in the FOB applicant’s notice describing its product and its method of 

manufacturing. Such a remedy may also unnecessarily affect the patent holder’s right to 

 

254 See, e.g., Sandoz, Inc. v. F.D.A., 439 F. Supp. 2d 26 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (denying generic competitor’s 

motion for injunctive relief against FDA re-listing brand patents); Purepac Pharm. Co. v. TorPharm, Inc., 

354 F.3d 877, 886-88 (D.C. Cir. 2004) (upholding FDA decision to delist a patent incorrectly listed for the 

wrong drug).Dr. Reddy's Labs., Inc. v. Thompson, 302 F. Supp. 2d 340, 355 (D.N.J. 2003) (upholding 

FDA delisting of an expired patent and not to award exclusivity to an ANDA applicant who filed a 

paragraph IV certification before the patent's expiration); 

255 See, e.g., American Bioscience, Inc. v. Thompson, 269 F.3d 1077, 1080 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (recognizing 

that the FDA "has refused to become involved in patent listing disputes, accepting at face value the 

accuracy of NDA holders' patent declarations and following their listing instructions"); Purepac Pharm. Co. 

v. Thompson, 238 F. Supp. 2d 191, 196 (D. D.C. 2002) ("The duty to ensure that the Orange Book only 

lists patents that actually claim approved drugs . . . lies with NDA holders.") (citing Watson Pharm., Inc. v. 

Henney, 194 F. Supp. 2d 442, 445-46 (D. Md. 2001) ("In making its decision to list a patent . . . it is 

entirely appropriate and reasonable for the FDA to rely on the patentee's declaration as to coverage, and to 

let the patent infringement issues play out in other, proper arenas, as is the clear intent of the HatchWaxman Amendments.")). 

62
assert the patent in unrelated contexts. Resolving these uncertainties (and others) is likely 

to delay resolution of patent issues and, thus, defeat the purpose of a pre-approval patent 

resolution process.256 

 In sum, although there may be legitimate issues about invalid or not infringed 

patents blocking FOB drug entry, these issues are best handled post-FDA approval when 

the parties’ incentives are not distorted by a pre-approval process. In other words, postFDA approval, the FOB manufacturer will seek to begin commercial marketing and the 

pioneer manufacturer will seek to obtain a preliminary injunction to block FOB drug entry. 

 

256 For example, if the rules required a pioneer manufacturer to provide a list of patents within 30 days, but 

one patent is left off and corrected on day 31, does this omission limit enforceability against that FOB 

manufacturer? There are countless ways in which parties may inadvertently violate the rules for which a 

“sue-or-lose” provision would extinguish their patent rights. 

63
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64
CHAPTER 4 LIKELY COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF A MARKET 

 EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD FOR FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS

The Hatch-Waxman Act provides a 180-day marketing exclusivity period to the 

first generic drug applicant that seeks FDA approval prior to the expiration of patents 

relating to the branded drug product.257 No other generic manufacturer may obtain FDA 

approval to market its product until the first generic has sold its product for 180 days or 

has forfeited the exclusivity period. 

 The 180-day exclusivity period incentivizes generic manufacturers to challenge 

the patents claiming a branded drug product. One court has explained that the 180-day 

exclusivity rewards the first generic applicant for the expense and effort involved with 

patent challenges.258 A court finding of patent invalidity benefits not only the challenger, 

but also subsequent generic applicants whose entry is no longer blocked by the patent. 

Thus, the 180-day marketing exclusivity period prevents immediate free-riding by 

subsequent generic applicants on a favorable outcome that results from the first 

applicant’s patent challenge. As subsequent generic firms enter, generic prices can drop 

to 80 percent off the branded price, depending upon the number of entrants.259 The 

exclusivity period permits the first generic entrant to recoup its patent litigation costs 

before the substantial price drop caused by multiple generic entrants. 

This chapter summarizes the commenters and panelists views on the need for, and 

the likely effects of, providing FOB manufacturers with incentives to develop their 

products by restricting entry of competing products during an FOB exclusivity period. It 

then explains that an exclusivity period is unnecessary to encourage the development and 

marketing of biosimilar products. Biosimilar products are likely to earn substantial 

profits without regulatory exclusivity periods. Moreover, European and U.S. experience 

with biosimilars shows that sufficient profit incentives already exist to encourage 

biosimilar entry. 

An exclusivity period is likely to be unnecessary to encourage the development of 

interchangeable biosimilar drug products because potential market opportunities appear 

robust. The competitive dynamics that justified the 180-day exclusivity period for smallmolecule generic drugs are unlikely to be present with the entry of interchangeable 

biosimilar drugs. 

It also is unclear that an exclusivity period will successfully incentivize a 

manufacturer of a biosimilar product to develop an interchangeable FOB product. 

Biosimilar manufacturers are likely to make this additional investment based on a 

 

257 21 U.S.C.A. § 355 (j)(5)(B)(iv)(I) (2009). 

258 Mova v. Shalala, 140 F.3d 1060, 1074 (D.C. Cir. 1998). 

259 See David Reiffen & Michael Ward, “Branded Generics” As A Strategy To Limit Cannibalization of 

Pharmaceutical Markets, 28 MANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, 251, 264 (2005), available at 

http://ftc.gov/be/healthcare/wp/12_Reiffen_BrandedGenericsAsAStrategy.pdf. 

65
consideration of, among other things: the cost, expected prices, capacity constraints, and 

the extent and effect of state substitution laws. This situation contrasts significantly with 

small-molecule generic competition seen under Hatch-Waxman in which generic 

manufacturers enter initially with an interchangeable product. Unlike FOB 

manufacturers, generic manufacturers do not market a “similar” product first and replace 

it with an “interchangeable” product later. 

Not only do market dynamics counsel against an FOB exclusivity period, but the 

anticompetitive delay in entry evidenced in small-molecule generic drug markets is likely 

to be repeated if an exclusivity provision for interchangeable FOBs is implemented.260 

The current 180-day exclusivity period exacerbates the problem of “pay-for-delay” 

settlements that prevent generic entry.261 

 Awarding an FOB exclusivity period on a “first-to-approve” rather than a “firstto-file” basis does not lessen the potential harm. These anticompetitive consequences are 

likely to result if the period can be extended, the period does not run immediately upon 

its award, or if a firm has the ability to delay triggering the running of the period through, 

for example, a patent settlement, acquisition, merger, or agreement.262 

I. NECESSITY OF AN EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD TO ENCOURAGE 

 DEVELOPMENT OF FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC DRUGS 

 The question arises whether an FOB manufacturer needs an incentive beyond 

market-based pricing to develop an interchangeable FOB drug, such as a limit on when 

subsequent interchangeable FOB drug entry can occur (an “FOB exclusivity period”). 

This limitation would allow the first interchangeable FOB manufacturer to recoup its 

development expenses.263 One commenter indicated that “most companies 

contemplating biogenerics will be reluctant to invest the significant resources required to 

 

260 See FDA/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 180-Day Generic Drug Exclusivity (2001), 

available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/about/smallbiz/generic_exclusivity.htm#COURT (“This 180-day 

exclusivity provision has been the subject of considerable litigation and administrative review in recent 

years...”). 

261 See How Pay-for-Delay Settlements Make Consumers and the Federal Government Pay More for Much 

Needed Drugs: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the H. 

Comm. on Energy and Commerce, 111th Cong. (2009) (Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade 

Commission), available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/03/P859910payfordelay.pdf. 

262 For an example of how exclusivity periods can be extended, see discussion supra in Chapter 3 regarding 

stacking of 30-month stay provisions under Hatch-Waxman. 

263 See, e.g., Momenta Comment (12/22/08) at 7 (“The discovery and understanding of the biology of a 

pathway often allows for patent protection that not only covers the therapeutic protein or antibody itself, 

but offers the potential to claim coverage of other therapeutic proteins and antibodies that regulate the 

biological landscape in which the biologic acts.”); id. at 7; Pearce at 169; Hospira (Wilkie Farr) Comment 

(12/22/08) at 2; Leicher at 161-62. 

66
determine interchangeability if there is no possibility for recouping the costs that come 

with patent chal 264 lenges.”

 

By contrast, other commenters and panelists suggested that there was no need for 

an FOB exclusivity period because potential market profits would provide sufficient 

incentives to enter with a follow-on product.265 Another commenter explained that if the 

market did not provide sufficient incentives on its own, an FOB exclusivity period would 

not do so either. An applicant would already have the assurance of de facto exclusivity, 

because there would not likely be a second or subsequent entrant, and de jure exclusivity 

would add nothing to the economic calculus.266

One potential FOB entrant explained that if a company invests a huge amount of 

money developing FOB products, it is unwise to put up further barriers in the form of 

exclusivity granted to other FOBs against its ability to get a return on investment.267 

Others panelists stressed that an additional incentive to foster FOB entry is no longer 

needed because the environment in 2008 is much different that it was in 1984, when 

Hatch-Waxman was enacted and there were no established generic competitors, thus an 

incentive was necessary to jump start the industry.268

Other panelists questioned why an FOB exclusivity period was needed in the 

United States, the largest drug market in the world, when follow-on drug manufacturers 

in Europe have not needed exclusivity to incentivize biosimilar entry. One panelist noted 

that European regulatory structure does not provide market exclusivity for biosimilars or 

264 Teva Comment (9/30/08) at 6; see also Barr Comment (9/30/08) at 8 (“market exclusivity is necessary 

to encourage companies to develop generic biologics” and that “generic companies need an incentive to 

undertake costly and time-consuming patent disputes – disputes needed for pre-patent expiration generic 

market entry.”); GPhA (9/30/08) at 5 (generic marketing exclusivity provides “the incentive needed for 

generic companies to undertake the considerable risk that comes with navigating intellectual property for 

the brand product and patent. Biogeneric companies will be very reluctant to invest resources if there is no 

possibly for recouping the costs that come with patent challenges.”); W&S Comment (12/22/08) at 2. 

265 Norman at 197 (“to recognize why someone following on after the trail has already been blazed should 

need any incentive other than the market in and of itself. The market provides plenty incentives for people 

to do what reasonable persons do every day”); Zielinksi at 196 (The “market dynamic itself will be 

sufficient incentive, because fewer entrants, and less price discount, so FOBs can make it up in sales.”); see 

also Competition in the Pharmaceutical Marketplace: Antitrust Implications of Patent Settlements: 

Hearing Before the S. Comm. On the Judiciary, 107th Cong. (2001) (statement of Orin Hatch, Chairman , ( 

S. Comm. On the Judiciary) (“Is it necessary or advisable to retain the 180-day exclusivity period given the 

enormous financial incentives to challenge patents on blockbuster drugs?”). 

266 Eli Lilly Comment (12/22/08) at 5. 

267 Allan at 194, 207. 

268 Miller at 198-99; see also Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 19 (“[T]he generic industry is in a very 

different place today than it was at the time the Hatch-Waxman pathway for approval of generic drugs was 

adopted. In 1984, the industry was not yet established and success of the generic business model was 

uncertain.”). 

67
“for any generic of any kind, including small molecule.”269 This panelist also concluded 

that because many generic companies do not make the 180-day period the cornerstone of 

their business model, the 180-day marketing exclusivity period is not necessary to 

encourage entry.270 A commenter also noted that the large number of biosimilar products 

under development in Europe, where no market exclusivity is provided for biosimilar 

products, indicates that market exclusivity in the United States may be unnecessary.271 

II. MARKETING EXCLUSIVITY LIMITED TO INTERCHANGEABLE 

FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGICS 

 Panelists suggested that any regulatory exclusivity period be limited to 

interchangeable FOBs (e.g., biogenerics), which may cost more to develop than 

biosimilar drug products.272 One panelist indicated that demonstrating interchangeability 

may require clinical trials. The trials will be complicated and expensive if there are 

multiple interchangeable products.273 A commenter suggested that a “short period of 

exclusivity for the first to market could provide an incentive to companies entering the 

biogeneric market; however, companies will not likely rely on winning exclusivity to 

invest in the products because the development time and investment for biogenerics is so 

great.”274

Some panelists suggested that there are likely to be few, if any, interchangeable 

FOB entrants because of the additional expenses to develop and obtain approval of 

interchangeable products.275 In contrast, another panelist predicted that the availability

of an FDA approval process for interchangeability would prompt the development of th

necessary analytics needed to prove interchangeability.

e 

 

276 

 If there were an FOB exclusivity period, panelists described how experience 

under Hatch-Waxman provided insights into how best to structure the exclusivity to 

269 Barkoff at 204-05; see also Zielinski at 206; Teva Comment at 5 (“Exclusivity periods should be based 

on the entirety of a particular regulatory and patent system. The exclusivity periods provided in the EU are 

not a legitimate model for guiding the U.S. since, for example, price controls are prevalent in the EU, while 

the U.S. does not impose price controls.”). 

270 Barkoff at 205-06. 

271 See Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 19. 

272 Hospira Comment (12/22/08) at 7 (“[t]he R&D investment for a biogeneric is significantly greater and 

could approach $100 million”); see also Berhman Presentation at 13; Momenta Comment (9/30/08) at 3; 

Schultz at 191-92. 

273 Allan at 194. 

274 Hospira Comment (12/22/08) at 7. 

275 Shultz at 194-95. 

276 Brugger at 74. 

68
avoid unintended anticompetitive effects that delayed entry. One panelist suggested that 

an FOB exclusivity period should restrict only other interchangeable FOBs, not other 

biosimilars, from coming to market during that period of time.277 

One commenter posited that the Hatch-Waxman 180-day marketing period was 

designed to incentivize generic drug applicants to engage in patent litigation because of 

the concern that other generic drug applicants would free-ride on this litigation 

investment.278 One panelist suggested that placing a bounty system on intellectual 

property rights through the awarding of marketing exclusivity for patent challenge is not 

in the public interest. 279 Other commenters suggested that FOB exclusivity “be based on 

product approval rather than patent challenge” such that it does not create a “perverse 

incentive to challenge the innovator’s patent early and often, regardless of the merit of 

the challenge.”280 

III. ANALYSIS OF LIKELY COMPETITIVE EFFECTS OF AN FOB 

EXCLUSIVITY PERIOD

An FOB exclusivity period is unnecessary to encourage the development and 

marketing of biosimilar products. Market forces to incentivize the development of these 

products appear robust. Indeed, several panelists and commenters noted that the multibillion dollar size of the market opportunities, the European experience of HGH and EPO 

biosimilar entrants, and the U.S. EPO biosimilars provide strong evidence to predict that 

regulatory incentives are unnecessary to encourage biosimilar products in the United 

States.281 Moreover, they are likely to face less competition than small-molecule generic 

drug manufacturers because of the high entry costs. 

 

277 Shultz at 201-02; see also Barr Comment (9/30/08) at 8 (if there were an exclusivity period that it “not 

prevent the immediate approval of a non-interchangeable, but comparable, generic biologic product” and 

that it be awarded “to the first interchangeable product to be approved by FDA, rather than to the company 

that filed the first application seeking approval of such a product, as happens under Hatch-Waxman”); 

Mylan Comment at 9 (exclusivity provided only to the first biogeneric would not prevent or delay the 

FDA’s approval of a biosimilar product); Novartis Comment (12/22/08) at 18 (“[t]o date, none of the U.S. 

legislative proposals for FOBs would grant exclusivity to a non-interchangeable FOB. An 

interchangeability designation is currently considered the most effective way to introduce head-to-head 

market-based competition with currently-licensed PHS Act biologics.”); Teva Comment (10/8/08) at 8. 

278 BIO Comment (9/30/08) at 24-25 (“patent litigation over one FOB product will not necessarily apply to 

another FOB product,” and the risk of litigation free-riders faced in the generic small-molecule context will 

be much diminished in an FOB context); see also PhRMA Comment (9/30/08) at 21 (“[it] is not clear that 

regulatory exclusivity would be need to encourage patent challenges under an FOB regulatory pathway.”). 

279 Norman at 201. 

280 Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 24 (expressing concern that “excessive patent litigation spawned by the 

180-day exclusivity provision” would increase the cost of producing new treatments and cures); see also

Schultz at 192. 

281 See Grabowski at 39; Heldman at 22-32; Heldman Presentation at 3-9; Lane at 36-37, 40; Urlep at 34; 

Zielinski at 211; Amgen Comment (9/30/08) at 19 (“It appears from the number of biosimilar products 

under development in Europe, where no market exclusivity is provided for biosimilar products, that market 

69
An FOB exclusivity period also is unlikely to be necessary to encourage the 

development of interchangeable biosimilar drug products for several reasons. First, the 

conditions that justified the 180-day exclusivity period for small-molecule generic drugs 

under Hatch-Waxman are unlikely to be present. Interchangeable FOB drug prices are 

unlikely to fall as much (either in real terms or as a percentage of the pioneer product’s 

price) as they do when multiple small-molecule generic drugs enter the market. In the 

small-molecule generic drug context, the first generic entrant is able to recoup its patent 

litigation costs before entry of additional generic drugs. Additional generic entry 

substantially decreases the generic price, in some cases, up to 80 percent off the 

referenced product’s price. It is likely, however, that few interchangeable FOB entrants 

will enter the market, and prices will not fall as much as they do following smallmolecule generic drug entry. 

Second, it is unclear whether subsequent interchangeable entrants would be able 

to “free-ride” on the first interchangeable’s FDA approval or patent litigation expense 

and thus enter the market once the first interchangeable product is approved. It is 

expected that FDA approval of interchangeable products (and accompanying patent 

litigation) is likely to be more complicated than generic drug approval. Unlike generic 

small-molecule drugs where several generic drug products often await FDA approval 

once a patent expires or is found invalid or not infringed, this complexity is likely to 

diminish the prospect that a “queue” of interchangeables will be ready for approval once 

the first interchangeable product is approved. Thus, the circumstances that justified a 

180-day marketing exclusivity period for generic drugs are unlikely to be present for 

interchangeable FOB drug products. 

Third, it is uncertain that cost will justify an FOB exclusivity period. It may not 

cost substantially more to show that a biosimilar product is interchangeable with the 

referenced branded product than an initial finding of biosimilarity. If technology 

advances such that it is relatively inexpensive to determine interchangeability, an 

exclusivity period is unnecessary. 

Fourth, it is unclear that an FOB exclusivity period will successfully incentivize a 

manufacturer of a biosimilar product to develop an interchangeable FOB product. 

Biosimilar manufacturers are likely to make this additional investment based on a 

consideration of, among other things, the cost, expected prices, capacity constraints, and 

the extent and effect of state substitution laws. This situation contrasts significantly with 

small-molecule generic competition seen under Hatch-Waxman in which generic 

manufacturers enter initially with an interchangeable product. Unlike FOB 

manufacturers, generic manufacturers do not market a “similar” product first and replace 

it with an “interchangeable” product later. 

Not only is an FOB exclusivity period not justified by market conditions but the 

delay in generic entry evidenced in small-molecule generic drug markets is likely to be 

 exclusivity for biosimilars in the United States may not be necessary.”); Bernstein Research Comment at 

12. 

70
repeated in biologics markets if an exclusivity provision for interchangeable products is 

implemented. These anticompetitive consequences are likely to result if the period can 

be extended, the period does not run immediately upon its award, or if a firm has the 

ability to delay triggering the running of the period through, for example, a patent 

settlement, acquisition, merger, or agreement.282 In addition, each of these problems is 

likely to be present even if the exclusivity is awarded on a “first-to-file” rather than a 

“first-to-apply” basis. 

For example, pioneer manufacturers and FOB applicants could settle patent 

litigation such that a payment is made to the first interchangeable FOB entrant to settle 

the patent dispute and defer its entry. This settlement could create a bottleneck that 

blocks subsequent interchangeable FOB from obtaining FDA approval because the firstapproved product’s exclusivity period has not run. This outcome results in significant 

harm to consumers who not only lose the benefit of the first interchangeable product’s 

entry but also the second product’s entry. Furthermore, in this circumstance, the rationale 

for the FOB exclusivity period is undermined by proof that the subsequent applicant did 

not need an additional incentive to perform all the steps necessary to enter the market, yet 

is blocked from the market by the first interchangeable product. 

In theory, various regulatory fixes could require an interchangeable FOB 

manufacturer to forfeit its exclusivity period. These forfeiture events could include 

when: (a) it fails to trigger the running of the period by launching the interchangeable 

FOB product immediately following a final court decision in its favor on the patents at 

issue; (b) it has not been sued by the branded manufacturer, or (c) its patent suit is taking 

too long to resolve and a subsequent interchangeable applicant is approvable by the FDA. 

The problem with these fixes is that each one blocks entry of a subsequent 

interchangeable product for a period of time and thereby denies consumers price 

competition and increased innovation. They also require the FDA to expend significant 

resources monitoring patent registrations and certifications, litigations, and marketplace 

activity that is outside its core missions and competencies.283 Further, such a marketing 

exclusivity provision will inevitably generate lawsuits against the FDA regarding award, 

 

282 For an example of how exclusivity periods can be extended, see discussion in Chapter 3 regarding 

stacking of 30-month stay provisions under Hatch-Waxman. 

283 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(b)(1); see, e.g., Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Leavitt, 548 F. 3d 103, 106-07 (D.C. Cir. 

2008); Ranbaxy Labs. Ltd. v. Leavitt, 469 F.3d 120, 124 (D.C. Cir. 2006); Sandoz, Inc. v. F.D.A., 439 F. 

Supp. 2d 26, 30 (D.C. Cir. 2006); Apotex, Inc. v. Thompson, 347 F.3d 1335, 1348–49 (Fed. Cir. 2003); 

Pharma Inc. v. Thompson, 296 F.3d 227, 242–43 (4th Cir. 2002); Andrx Pharm., Inc. v. Biovail Corp., 276 

F.3d 1368, 1373-74 (Fed. Cir. 2002); Mylan Pharm., Inc. v. Thompson, 268 F.3d 1323, 1331-32 (Fed. Cir. 

2001); Am. Bioscience, Inc. v. Thompson, 269 F.3d 1077, 1080 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (recognizing that the 

FDA "has refused to become involved in patent listing disputes, accepting at face value the accuracy of 

NDA holders' patent declarations and following their listing instructions"); see also Prepared Statement of 

the Federal Trade Commission Before the Hearing before the S. Comm. on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, 107th Cong. (2002) (statement of Timothy J. Muris, Chairman, FTC), available at 

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2002/04/pharmtestimony.htm. 

71
72

 

timing, scope and termination of the marketing exclusivity periods as has occurred 

regarding the 180-day provision of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments.284 

For these reasons, an FOB exclusivity period is unlikely to benefit consumers 

either with an increase in the pace or scope of innovation or additional price competition. 

An FOB exclusivity period is likely to delay FOB competition in the case when a second 

interchangeable FOB applicant is ready to be approved, but cannot enter until the firstapproved interchangeable product’s exclusivity has expired. 

284 See, e.g., Mova Pharm. Corp. v. Shalala, 140 F.3d 1060, 1065 (D.C. Cir. 1998); Apotex, Inc. v. FDA, 

No. 06-5105, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 10561 (D.C. Cir. Apr. 24, 2006), aff’d Apotex, Inc. v. FDA, No. 06-

5105, 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 14086 (D.C. Cir. June 6, 2006) (“This case is the latest flare-up in a long 

running dispute between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and several generic manufacturers as to 

what qualifies under the Hatch-Waxman act as “a decision of a court . . . holding [a challenged] patent to be 

invalid or not infringed.”). 
1

 Henry Grabowski, Follow-on Biologics: Data Exclusivity and the Balance Between Innovation and Competition, 7

NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY 479 (June 2008) [hereinafter “NATURE”].

2

 Subsequent calculations and adjustments to the Nature model include: Henry Grabowski et al., Updating Prior

Analyses and Responding to Critiques, DUKE UNIV. DEPT. ECON. WORKING PAPER, No. 2008-10 (Dec. 22, 2008)

(hereinafter “Updating Analyses”); Matrix Global Advisors Comment (12/22/08); Alex Brill, Proper Duration of

Data Exclusivity for Generic Biologics: A Critique, MATRIX GLOBAL ADVISORS, LLC, WHITE PAPER (2008).

3

 Such an approach would require, at a minimum, R&D cost information to which the FTC does not have access.

A-1

APPENDIX A

Economists have developed a framework to calculate the time it takes for a branded

biologic drug manufacturer to recover fully its investment to develop and commercialize a

typical biologic drug. This framework is referred to as the “Nature model” because it first

appeared in an article by Dr. Henry Grabowski in the journal Nature Reviews: Drug Discovery.

1

 

The original Nature model, along with subsequent suggested changes, has been used as the basis

for an estimation of the optimal length of a branded exclusivity period.2

 

This appendix describes the Nature model and explains the methodological and

conceptual weaknesses that render its results too imprecise and non-robust to inform discussions

about the length of a branded exclusivity period. A model that balances the benefits of FOB

competition with the costs of potentially forsaking marginal branded drug development projects

would be more informative than the Nature model’s approach.3

The appendix is organized as follows: Section I describes the original Nature model’s

data inputs and the operation of the model; Section II describes the comments about, suggested

changes to, and subsequent sensitivity analysis performed on the original Nature model; Section

III describes the current weaknesses with the model; and despite these weaknesses, Section IV

presents one correction to the elasticity and internal consistency flaws of the model along with

new results based on these corrections.

I. Description of the Nature Model

The Nature model calculates the break-even point for a branded manufacturer’s biologic

portfolio as the point at which the net present value of the cumulative cash flows of the portfolio

equals zero. The stream of cash flows upon which this calculation is based has the following six

components.
4

 Joseph DiMasi & Henry Grabowski, The Cost of Biopharmaceutical R&D: Is Biotech Different?, 28 MANAG.

DECIS. ECON. 469 (2007).

5 The phase probabilities, as well as the development times, are estimated from a separate database of 522 biologic

drugs.

6 Grabowski, NATURE, at 483, Note 6, Box 3.

7 Id. at 483, Note 9, Box 3.

A-2

A. Total Pre-Approval Research and Development Costs per Approved Biologic

Drug

The first input of the Nature model is an estimate of the pre-approval R&D costs per

approved biologic drug based on work by DiMasi and Grabowski.4

 The original Nature model

and subsequent calculations rely on estimates of the total R&D costs for a typical investigational

drug, adjusted for the probability of FDA approval, to calculate an estimate of the total R&D

costs for a FDA-approved branded biologic drug. The R&D cost estimates are based on the

proprietary data for 17 biologic drugs. The cost estimates are the weighted average costs in each

phase of development (i.e., preclinical, Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III) across the 17 drugs,

where the weights are the probabilities of entering each phase.5

 The estimated real (i.e., in 2005

dollars) costs for each phase are: $59.88 million (preclinical), $32.28 million (phase I), $31.55

million (phase II), and $45.26 million (phase III). These costs would be spent over an average

13 year period prior to approval, so that the future value of these costs at the time of approval

(using a discount rate of 11.5%) is $374.70 million. 

Because every molecule developed is not approved (e.g., clinical testing may show that it

is not safe and/or effective), the total R&D estimate is adjusted for the probability of success. 

The R&D cost per investigational molecule is converted to an estimate of the R&D cost per

approved molecule by dividing the $374.70 million by the estimated probability of success

(30.2%). The overall estimate of the total pre-approval R&D costs at launch (using a discount

rate of 11.5%) for a typical approved biologic drug is $1.24 billion. Using a discount rate of

12.5%, the estimate of pre-approval R&D costs is $1.33 billion. 

B. Launch and Plant Transition Costs

The second input of the Nature model is an estimate of the costs of launching production

of the new drug. The Nature model and subsequent calculations assumed that the branded

manufacturer will spend $25 million over the two years prior to launch to convert existing

manufacturing capacity to the production of the new drug.6

 It is also assumed that the branded

manufacturer will incur additional “launch-related expenditures equal to 10% and 20% of first

year’s sales” in the two years prior to launch, respectively.7 Using a discount rate of 11.5%, the

future value of these costs at the time of launch is roughly $70 million. Therefore, if the

discount rate is assumed to be 11.5%, the typical branded biologic firm is estimated to be “in the
8 Id. at 485.

9 Id.

10 Id. at 486.

11 Id. at 486.

A-3

hole” roughly $1.31 billion per approved new drug at the time of launch ($1.24 billion plus $70

million based on a 11.5% discount rate).

C. Post-Approval R&D Costs

The third input of the Nature model is an estimate of the costs for post-approval R&D of

new indications and formulations. The Nature model and subsequent calculations assumed that

these costs are $24.5 million per year for the first 8 years after approval based on post-approval

R&D expenses of traditional small-molecule drug companies.

D. Revenues

The fourth input of the Nature model is an estimate of the revenue stream used to recover

the pre-approval R&D costs, launch and transition costs, and post-approval R&D costs. The

Nature model’s revenue estimates are based on revenues from a sample of 30 biotechnology

drugs. The 30 drugs are ranked into quintiles and the mean amounts for the top four ranked

quintiles are then used to calculate the average revenue profile for a typical branded biologic

drug. The Nature model excluded the bottom quintile because these drugs “may not have

representative R&D cost profiles.”8

The timing of the revenues for the hypothetical portfolio is assumed to match that of the

“average new drug introduction in the 1990s.” After the maximum revenues are achieved in the

tenth year after launch, revenues are assumed to decline by 3.5% per year due to “obsolescence

and therapeutic class competition.”9

 The revenue stream represents worldwide sales and is

denominated in 2005 dollars.10

E. Contribution Margin

The fifth input of the Nature model is an estimate of the operating profit margin, or

contribution margin, of the brand drug. After the brand drug is launched, its revenues cover its

operating costs each year with the remaining operating profit contributing to the recoupment of

the investment costs. The original Nature model assumes that the contribution margin for the

biologic portfolio is -30% in the first year after launch, +20% in the second year after launch,

and +50% thereafter. The steady-state 50% margin is used because it is “in line with the

contribution margins realized by the eight largest biotechnology firms with multiple products on

the market.”11
12 Id.

13 DiMasi, The Cost of Biopharmaceutical R&D, at 474.

14 Grabowski, NATURE, at 486.

15 Id. at 487.

A-4

F. Discount Rate/Cost of Capital

The final input of the Nature model is an estimate of the cost of capital for a biologic

drug, i.e., the rate of return required by investors to compensate for the risk involved in

developing the brand drug. The original Nature model uses two rates to “capitalize forward” the

R&D cost stream to the launch date and discount the profit stream back to the launch date: 

11.5% and 12.5%. These rates are justified as “reflective of the equity cost of capital for larger

publicly listed biotechnology firms with multiple products on the market in recent periods.”12

These rates are based on estimates of the real cost of capital over time for an unspecified sample

of biotech firms calculated in previous research using the capital asset pricing model (12.5% in

1994, 12.0% in 2000, and 10.0% in 2004).13 The original Nature model uses the average

(11.5%) and maximum (12.5%) of these three rates in its calculations. 

These six components are used to calculate the point at which R&D costs are recouped

through post-approval cumulative profits as shown in Table 1 below (which assumes a discount

rate of 11.5%). The typical biologic product starts out at launch $1.31 billion “in the hole.”

During each year after launch, it earns an operating profit (assumed to be negative in the first

year) which is its contribution margin times its revenue (minus any post-approval R&D). To

properly compare profits in different years, this profit stream is discounted back to the launch

date. If 11.5% is used as the discount rate, the cumulative profit stream covers the initial R&D

expenditures late in the 13th year after launch (i.e., 12.9 years after launch).14 If 12.5% is used as

the discount rate, this break-even point occurs 16.2 years after launch. 

Based on these two calculations, Grabowski concludes that the exclusivity period for a

branded biologic should last 12 and 16 years after launch: “entry through abbreviated filings

should be delayed until the representative NBE [New Biologic Entity] has had the opportunity to

earn risk-adjusted break-even returns.”15
16 Brill, Proper Duration of Data Exclusivity.

17 Id. at 8 (citing DiMasi, The Cost of Biopharmaceutical R&D).

18 Id. at 8-9(citing an alternate source of financial data more recent than that used in the Nature model).

19 Id. at 10.

20 Id.

A-5

Table 1: Break-Even Analysis w/ Discount Rate = 11.5% (all amounts in millions)

Year R&D Revenue Margin Post-approval R&D Launch/Plant Profit NPV Profit Cumulative NPV

0 -$1,243 -$70 -$1,313 -$1,313 -$1,313

1 $128 -0.3 -$24.5 -$63 -$60 -$1,372

2 $243 0.2 -$24.5 $24 $20 -$1,352

3 $328 0.5 -$24.5 $140 $106 -$1,245

4 $413 0.5 -$24.5 $182 $124 -$1,121

5 $506 0.5 -$24.5 $229 $140 -$981

6 $577 0.5 -$24.5 $264 $145 -$836

7 $648 0.5 -$24.5 $300 $148 -$688

8 $676 0.5 -$24.5 $314 $139 -$550

9 $713 0.5 $357 $141 -$409

10 $713 0.5 $357 $127 -$282

11 $688 0.5 $344 $110 -$172

12 $664 0.5 $332 $95 -$77

13 $641 0.5 $320 $82 $5

14 $618 0.5 $309 $71 $76

15 $597 0.5 $298 $62 $138

16 $576 0.5 $288 $53 $191

17 $556 0.5 $278 $46 $237

II. Summary of Comments

Commenters raised several issues about the inputs, the operation of the model, and the

inferences that can be drawn from the model. Alex Brill arrived at different results by varying

some of the model’s assumptions.16 First, he suggested that 10% is a more accurate estimate of

the cost of capital for biotech firms, rather than 11.5% or 12.5%.17 Second, he posited that 60%,

rather than 50%, is a more accurate estimate of the contribution margin for a large biotech firm.18

Using these assumptions, he calculates a break-even point nine years after FDA approval of the

branded biologic drug.

Brill also explained that the break-even point should not be used as a proxy for the

optimal exclusivity period because a branded biologic product is likely to continue earning

positive profits even after FOB entry.19 If exclusivity is granted so that no FOBs can enter until

the average branded manufacturer has recouped its R&D costs, then the branded manufacturer

will earn “profits that exceed the required rate of return expected by investors.”20 If true, this
21 Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”), Cost Estimate (S.1695), Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act

of 2007 S. 1695, As Ordered Reported by the S. Comm. on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 27,

2007 (June 25, 2008), available at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/94xx/doc9496/s1695.pdf. 

22 Zuckerman Spaeder Comment (12/22/08) at 10. 

23 Grabowski, Updating Analyses, at 13.

24 Matrix Global Advisors Comment (12/22/08).

A-6

could lead to consumer harm through the delay of FOB entry. As an illustration, Brill used the

10%/60% discount rate/margin assumptions, along with assumptions from the Congressional

Budget Office about the market share and price declines that branded biologic drugs are likely to

face with FOB entry.21 This illustrations shows that a branded manufacturer would break-even

ten years after approval even if FOB entry occurs in the eighth year after FDA approval of the

branded drug.

Another commenter argued that the use of a portfolio approach in estimating the revenue

stream may result in an exclusivity period that is too long and overprotects the branded biologic

drugs that are most likely to face FOB competition. Although a branded manufacturer and its

capital partners may diversify by investing in many investigational drugs (some of which will

become very successful and profitable and others that will be approved, but have relatively small

revenues), potential FOB entry is only a credible concern for the most successful of these drugs.

The portfolio used in any break-even calculation to determine exclusivity periods should only

include those drugs for which FOB entry is likely when the period of exclusivity expires. The

original Nature model and subsequent calculations exclude only the bottom quintile of biologic

drugs when constructing the portfolio. This commenter suggested that drugs with less than $250

million in sales are unlikely to face FOB competition, thus implying that the bottom two

quintiles should be excluded from the break-even calculation, as the drugs in the second lowest

quintile have peak sales of $100 million.22

Following the roundtable and in response to Brill’s critique, Grabowski questioned

Brill’s assumption about total market revenues when FOBs enter the market; cited additional

research suggesting that the true cost of capital may be higher than originally presented in the

Nature model; suggested that the true contribution margin may be lower than originally

presented; and provided additional analysis showing how relaxing other assumptions in the

model would lead to longer break-even times.23 

Brill also provided post-roundtable comments that included additional alternative

interpretations of CBO’s assumptions regarding branded manufacturer market share declines

following FOB entry.24 In addition to his original calculation (which assumes total market

revenues do not change), he presented additional break-even calculations that assume a perfectly

inelastic demand. One of these assumes a steady-state price decline of 40% as before and the

other assumes a steady-state price decline of 20%. A final calculation assumes no price decline

and simply a loss of market share to the FOB entrant. As in his original analysis, all of these
25 American Enterprise Institute Comment (12/10/08) at 6.

26 DiMasi, The Cost of Biopharmaceutical R&D.

27 The FTC was unable to determine how the Nature model factors in sales of biologic products outside the United

States, including potential sales of biologic products in European markets prior to their approval in the U.S., and

European market revenues for the pioneer’s branded product after biosimilar entry. Accordingly, there could be

additional weaknesses in the Nature model concerning its treatment of international revenues.

28 Grabowski, NATURE, at 483, Box 3, Note 5.

A-7

calculations assume seven years of branded exclusivity, a contribution margin of 60%, and a cost

of capital of 10%. With these assumptions, he finds that the branded manufacturer breaks-even

nine to 14 years after launch.

Finally, one commenter surmised that the Nature model was “fraught with peril.” He

suggested that: “Aside from a possibly nonrepresentative sample, the exercise involves

numerous assumptions about the cost of capital, profit margins, and prices after the first followon enters the market. Reasonable changes to these assumptions can easily affect the results by

30–40 percent.”25

III. Problems with the Break-Even Model - Analysis

The problems with the Nature model fall into three types: (1) problems with the “inputs”

to the model (i.e., problems with the underlying components); (2) problems with the

incorporation of FOB entry into the model after a period of exclusivity; and (3) problems with

the interpretation and use of the results. 

A. Problems with the Input Assumptions

The first input to the Nature model is the estimate of pre-approval R&D costs for a

representative biologic drug. The problem with this estimate is that it is based on a sample of

only 17 drugs. No variance information is presented for the sample.26 Unless the R&D costs

within each clinical phase are essentially identical across the drugs, it is likely that the

confidence interval around the R&D cost estimate is large and, thus, the R&D cost estimate is

less likely to be accurate. Further, 13 of the 17 drugs were developed by one firm and the

sample is restricted to therapeutic recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies, so it is

possible that the sample is non-random and not representative of biologic drugs overall.

Another important input into the model is the revenue stream of the representative

biologic drug. There are two potential problems with the revenue stream used in the Nature

model.27 First, the revenue stream includes sales from post-approval indications and

formulations in addition to the original indication/formulation.28 The revenue stream associated

with the original indication/formulation is not provided, so one cannot calculate the break-even

point of the original indication/formulation with the data in the model. 
29 Id. at 485.

30 Duke University Comment (12/22/08) at 5 (“Specifically, in the Nature article I assume that, starting ten years

following launch of the innovator biologic, revenues will begin to decline due to obsolescence at a rate of 3.5% per

year. The introduction of new branded biologics by competitors (branded competition with other “first generation”

and “second generation” products) is a likely source of this obsolescence.). 

31 See e.g., Office of Technology Assessment, United States, Congress Edition, Pharmaceutical R&D: Costs: Risks

and Rewards, (1994) at 66.

A-8

Second, the revenue stream assumes “therapeutic class competition.”29 The time frame

of the therapeutic class competition is not stated in the original Nature model, but Grabowski’s

post-conference comment suggests that the therapeutic class competition is assumed to begin in

the tenth year after approval of the brand drug.30 Thus, the original Nature model implies that a

“first-in-class” branded drug will recoup its R&D costs even if therapeutic class competition

occurs. And because entry of FOBs is likely to have the same market effect as entry by branded

competitors, this assumption leads to the conclusion that the branded exclusivity period for the

first-in-class branded drug should be less than 12 to 16 years. 

In addition, like the R&D cost estimates, the revenue estimates are based on a small

sample. The model relies on 24 biologic drugs to estimate the revenue stream. These are the

drugs in the top four quintiles of the distribution and the spread in average peak revenues

between the top and second-to-bottom quintiles ($2 billion to $100 million) suggests a large

variance in this distribution. Like the R&D cost estimates, it is likely that the confidence

interval around the estimated revenue stream is large and, thus, the revenue estimates are less

likely to be accurate. In addition, it is unknown whether the 24 drugs are a random sample of

biologics. If not, or if they substantially overlap with the 17 drugs used to estimate the R&D

costs, the revenue estimates may be biased like the R&D cost estimates.

Furthermore, an implicit assumption of the Nature model is that there is no correlation

between R&D costs and revenues, so that an average R&D cost stream and an average revenue

stream can be used to make inferences about average profitability. However, R&D costs and

revenues may be positively or negatively correlated, making the variance of the profit estimates

smaller or larger, respectively, than suggested by independent samples. Since the samples used

to estimate R&D costs and revenues are not disclosed, it is impossible to determine if this

ameliorates or exacerbates the measurement error.

Another important component in the model is the assumed cost of capital. Despite the

disagreement over the appropriate cost of capital for a biologic firm, the model assumes a

constant cost of capital throughout the entire product life cycle. Investments in biologic R&D

during the early stages of research (e.g., preclinical R&D) might have a higher cost of capital

reflecting their relative risk, while investments during the later stages (e.g., phase III and postapproval) might have a lower cost of capital reflecting the relative certainty of the return.31 As a

result, this could substantially change the total capitalized amount to be recouped.
32 Matrix Global Advisors Comment (12/22/08) at 3 (“Given the desire to impose conservative assumptions, the Brill

model assumes the price decline of innovator drugs is equal the FOB price.”).

A-9

Apart from the estimation errors associated with the R&D cost and revenue inputs and

the cost of capital assumptions, it is unclear whether the use of sample means or a portfolio

approach is appropriate. The samples of drug projects used to create the R&D cost and revenue

estimates are biologic development projects that were actually pursued. At least initially, all of

these projects were perceived as potentially profitable ventures or else they would not have been

funded. Introducing a FOB pathway might make some of these formerly profitable projects

unprofitable. If the R&D cost and revenue figures are independent, the use of sample means in

the Nature model imply that the exclusivity period should be set so that development of projects

that are above the profit mean continue to be pursued while those below the profit mean are

abandoned. If the R&D cost and revenue estimates are not independent (e.g., more expensive

projects are associated with larger expected sales), it is not clear which projects would be

abandoned with a FOB pathway determined using the R&D cost and revenue mean estimates. A

better approach to determining the optimal length of a branded exclusivity period would balance

the benefits of FOB competition with the costs of potentially forsaking marginal branded

development projects. 

B. Problems Incorporating FOB Entry into the Break-Even Model

The versions of the model that explicitly incorporate FOB entry contain two questionable

assumptions that may bias the results. First, in most of the calculations that incorporate FOB

entry, it is assumed that the price of the branded drug will gradually decline after FOB entry so

that it is 40% below its pre-FOB price in four years. This assumption corresponds roughly to the

CBO’s assumption that the FOB price will be 40% less than the pre-FOB branded price four

years after entry. Of course, the latter does not necessarily imply the former, as it is theoretically

possible for the FOB’s price to be 40% less than the branded drug’s pre-FOB price even if the

branded drug’s price falls by more or less than 40%. 

The assumption that the branded drug price will match the FOB price represents the least

profitable scenario for the branded manufacturer: the scenario in which the branded drug and the

FOB are perfect substitutes.32 Still, the 40% branded price decrease assumption is ad hoc and is

not necessarily consistent with the CBO assumption that the branded drug’s market share will

eventually decline by 35%. In the calculations of Grabowski and Brill, competition between the

branded manufacturer and the FOB firm following FOB entry is not modeled explicitly. It is

reasonable to expect that the branded drug’s price decrease and market share decrease are interrelated and are jointly determined. In other words, the assumption that the branded drug’s share

declines by 35% in large part determines what price decreases are possible. The analysis below

provides one example of how the Nature model can be corrected to account for this relationship.

The second questionable assumption concerns overall revenues after FOB entry. In some

variations of the model, it is assumed that overall market revenues stay the same after FOB

entry. In other words, it is assumed that the branded manufacturer faces a demand for its drug

that is unitary elastic so that price decreases and the resulting increases in the quantity demanded
33 Dennis W. Carlton and Jeffrey M. Perloff,, MODERN INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION, at 93 (4th ed. 2005).

A-10

exactly offset producing no change in overall market revenue. For profit-maximizing firms, this

is impossible as profit-maximizing firms (with positive marginal costs) always price in the

elastic portion of the demand they face. 

In other variations of the model, it is assumed that overall revenues decline by the same

fraction as the price which is equivalent to assuming that the demand for the branded drug is

perfectly inelastic (i.e., a price decline results in no change in the quantity produced and sold). A

profit-maximizing firm facing a perfectly inelastic demand will increase its price to infinity, as it

can sell the same amount at a higher and higher price. This result also is impossible. Branded

manufacturers set prices in the elastic portion of the demands they face for the drugs they

produce, as do all profit-maximizing firms.33

This latter assumption is problematic because it assumes away the primary benefit of

establishing an abbreviated pathway for follow-on biologics, namely, to reduce the price of

biologic drugs so more people can have access to them. Furthermore, this assumption of

inelastic demand directly contradicts the contribution margins used in the model. The Lerner

Index dictates that for any profit-maximizing firm, its profit margin over marginal cost will

equal the inverse of (the absolute value of) the price elasticity of demand for the demand the firm

faces for its product. This condition holds for all profit-maximizing firms, not just monopolists,

as it is derived from the first-order necessary condition for profit-maximization. Thus, any

profit-maximizing firm that has positive marginal costs and a finite, positive margin over

marginal cost must be facing an elastic demand (at least locally around the profit-maximizing

price). The contribution margins used in the model are not necessarily equal to the margins over

marginal cost used in the Lerner Index (e.g., they may include some overhead costs). However,

the assumption of finite contribution margins necessarily implies finite margins over marginal

cost and, thus, demand that is elastic, not perfectly inelastic. Below, we correct the model’s

calculations using the Lerner Index with the contribution margin serving as a proxy for the

margin over marginal cost. 

C. Problems in the Interpretation and Use of the Results

Apart from the problems with the underlying assumptions of the model, the results of the

model are prone to misinterpretation. First, the inclusion of post-approval R&D costs and

revenues in the break-even analysis makes it easy to misinterpret the results if one is using the

analysis to determine the extent of the exclusivity period for branded biologics. If a fixed

exclusivity period is set to recoup the costs of pre-approval and post-approval R&D, then the

exclusivity period provides no marginal incentive to the branded firm to conduct post-approval

R&D.

Theoretically, the preceding issue could be resolved if one were able to separate the

revenues from post-approval indications and formulations from the revenues for the original

indication and formulation. However, even if one were able to correct this problem and all of
34 This is likely a conservative assumption as the branded manufacturer may be able to price above the FOB and any

A-11

the previous problems, a more fundamental problem with the general model remains: small

changes in the input assumptions yield large swings in the resulting break-even period. 

This last point can be illustrated by considering Grabowski’s post-conference comment

that the actual cost of capital for biotech firms may be as high as 13-15%. Recall that the Nature

model originally found that a representative biologic portfolio would break even in the 13th year

if the cost of capital was 11.5% and would break even in the 17th year if the cost of capital was

12.5%. Using identical assumptions to the original Nature model, but increasing the cost of

capital to 13.25% produces a break-even point in the 23rd year. If the cost of capital is greater

than or equal to 13.7%, and all of the other assumptions in the original model are retained

(including no FOB entry at any point), the representative biologic portfolio never breaks even. 

The fact that the representative biologic portfolio never breaks even when using a cost of capital

greater than or equal to 13.7%, even though Grabowski’s post-roundtable comments suggest 14-

15% is a plausible cost of capital for biotech firms, casts doubt on the accuracy and reliability of

the model. 

IV. Correcting Problems in the Nature Model Does Not Improve Its Usefulness

As discussed above, the break-even calculations of the Nature model suffer from many

problems. Some of these problems can be corrected. In particular, the assumptions of unitary

elastic and perfectly inelastic demand can be discarded to make the model’s elasticity

assumptions consistent with its contribution margin assumptions. Second, the model’s

consistency problems in the post-FOB world can be corrected by applying a reasonable and

flexible competition model. The corrections described below are not exhaustive and simply

represent one way these problems can be addressed. In fact, the assumption of Cournot

FOB/branded competition is likely wrong, but is a reasonable approach that is consistent with

the assumption made by both Grabowski and Brill that the FOB and branded drugs will have the

same price after FOB entry. However, the corrections illustrate that the elasticity and

consistency problems are not innocuous, but instead have a significant impact on the results. 

These corrections do not address the more fundamental problems of imprecision and nonrobustness. As such, even with these corrections, we find the break-even framework

uninformative in the debate about proper exclusivity periods for branded biologic drugs. 

First, regarding the elasticity assumption, assume that the contribution margin of the

branded manufacturer is equal to the branded manufacturer’s margin over marginal cost (pmc)/p. These two margins are probably not equal, as the former includes some overhead costs,

but the contribution margin is the best proxy for the margin over marginal cost that is readily

available. From the Lerner Index, the price elasticity of demand for the branded manufacturer’s

drug is (-1 times) the inverse of the contribution margin. In other words, the assumption of a

contribution margin of 50% implies an elasticity of -2 and a contribution margin of 60% implies

an elasticity of -5/3. Let the subscript 1 denote the period before FOB entry and let the subscript

2 denote the period after FOB entry. Following Grabowski and Brill, we assume that the

branded drug’s price following FOB entry is the same as the FOB’s price.34 Let α be such that p2
ability to do so likely would allow the branded manufacturer to break-even sooner.

A-12

= αp1. For example, a steady-state price decline of 40% following FOB entry implies that α =

0.6. The price elasticity of demand (ε) is the ratio of the percentage change in quantity with a

corresponding percentage change in price. Using an approximation of the elasticity and

normalizing q1 = 1, this implies:

    



   

q q

q

p p

p

q

2 1

1

2 1

1

(1) 2 1 1

This implies that the total market (i.e., branded + FOB) revenue after FOB entry is:

R pq R     (2) 2 22 1     1 1

The profit-maximizing branded manufacturer’s marginal cost will equal its marginal revenue

before FOB entry:

mc mr p  





 



 1 1

1



(3)

Therefore, assuming the branded manufacturer’s marginal cost does not change after FOB entry,

the branded manufacturers’s post-FOB margin will be:

p mc

p

2

2

1

1

 

 





 

  





(4)

Second, a model of the competition between the branded firm and the FOB entrants is

needed to characterize prices and market shares that are consistent with each other. There are a

number of models that could be used, but the Cournot model seems most appropriate in the

current context for the following reasons:

• All versions of the Nature model that incorporate FOB entry assume that the branded

firm and the FOB will have the same price after FOB entry. This assumption is likely

incorrect as it is likely that the brand and FOBs will not be perfect substitutes and the

brand may continue to price higher than the FOBs. However, this assumption is used

because it represents the least profitable scenario for the branded manufacturer.
35 See, e.g., Alexis Ahlstrom et al., Modeling Federal Cost Savings of Follow-On Biologics, Avalere Health LLC

(Mar. 2007) available at

http://www.avalerehealth.net/research/docs/Follow_on_Biologic_Modeling_Framework.pdf.

A-13

• Most analysts expect that the price of biologics will decline as more FOBs enter, which is

a characteristic of the Cournot model.35

• The Cournot model is flexible and requires limited assumptions to implement. It is robust

across most types of demand and cost functions. Other potential models (e.g.,

differentiated Bertrand) require more assumptions to implement. However, if feasible to

implement, a monopolistic competition model would be more accurate, as it would

capture the differentiation between the brand drug and the FOB that is likely to

characterize competition after FOB entry.

The Cournot analogue to the Lerner Index dictates that a firm’s margin over marginal

cost will equal (the absolute value of) the inverse of the price elasticity of demand times the

firm’s market share. Therefore, after FOB entry, the branded manufacturer’s margin is:

p mc

p

s 2

2

   

(5)

where s is the branded manufacturer’s market share. Substituting the branded manufacturer’s

marginal cost as calculated in (3) above, we can solve for the branded manufacturer’s post-FOB

price as a function of the branded pre-FOB price:

 

 

p p

p

s

p

s

p

2 1

2

2 1

1

1

1

 





 



 



 





  













(6)

In other words, if the competition between the branded firm and the FOB firms is consistent with

the Cournot model, assumptions about the brand’s pre-FOB margin (which determines ε) and the

brand’s post-FOB market share uniquely determine the brand’s price decrease after FOB entry.

The CBO’s assumption of a steady-state market share decline of 35% and the assumption of a

50% margin imply a 26% branded manufacturer price decrease. If a 60% margin is used instead,

the branded manufacturer’s price decrease is roughly 34%. Using these values in the break-even

calculations produces the following break-even times:
36 Grabowski, Updating Prior Analyses.

A-14

Table 2: Year After Launch in Which Branded manufacturer Breaks-Even (Data

Exclusivity = 7 Years)

Margin/Cost of Capital Lerner (ε = -1/margin);

35% share decline;

Cournot competition

Unitary elasticity;

35% share decline;

40% price decline

Perfect inelasticity;

35% share decline;

40% share decline

50%/10% 14 Never Never

50%/11.5% 34 Never Never

50%/12.5% Never Never Never

60%/10% 10 11 14

60%/11.5% 14 17 Never

60%/12.5% 24 Never Never

When the elasticity assumption is corrected and the price and share declines are made

internally consistent, the results are much different than in previous versions of the Nature

model. For example, Grabowski concludes that “notably, with an exclusivity period of 7 years,

the only combination of assumptions that yields a breakeven point of less than 50 years is the

one used by Brill.”36 On the contrary, with an exclusivity period of seven years, there is only

one set of assumptions (of those most commonly used) that does not result in the branded

manufacturer breaking-even. 

However, even when the elasticity assumption is corrected and the price and share

declines are made internally consistent, the break-even period varies from 10 years to infinity. 

Small changes to the margin and cost of capital assumptions cause large swings in the results. 

Under the original assumptions of a 50% margin and a 11.5% cost of capital, the brand biologic

breaks even after 34 years if the exclusivity period is seven years. Increase the cost of capital

assumption to 13.7% and the brand would never recoup its investments, even if exclusivity were

perpetual and FOB’s never entered. Note also that these large swings in the results occur even

when one assumes the underlying cost and revenue estimates are measured without error. If one

were to incorporate the large estimation errors that likely exist because of the small samples on

which the estimates are based, the range of plausible results would only expand. A model that

produces such vastly different results with small and reasonable changes in the underlying

assumptions is unreliable as a basis for policy.
APPENDIX B 

I. FDA’s Drug Approval Processes 

The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approves prescription drug 

medicines for marketing in the United States through two separate and distinct product 

approval pathways, depending on the drug’s method of manufacture. The first pathway 

applies to small molecule drugs and the second pathway applies to biologic drugs. 

Small molecule drugs are manufactured by chemical synthesis. The FDA’s 

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) approves small molecule drugs 

pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FD&C Act”).1

 To obtain FDA 

approval, the small molecule drug manufacturer, or company sponsor, must complete the 

requirements of a full New Drug Application (“NDA”), including a showing of medical 

benefit over patient risk.2 

Biologic products are derived from living matter (e.g., purified from blood) or 

manufactured in living cells (e.g., yeast, e.coli, or mammalian cells) using recombinant 

DNA biotechnologies.3 The FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research 

(“CBER”) approves biologic drugs for marketing pursuant to the Public Health Safety 

(PHS Act”).4 To obtain FDA approval, the company sponsor must complete the 

 

1

 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq. (2009). 

2 A full NDA is also known as a 505(b)(1) application, referring to FD&C Act § 505(b)(1). 21 U.S.C.A. § 

355(b)(1) (2009). 

3

 Although biologics must be approved through the BLA process, which center at the FDA performs the 

review is more complicated. CBER regulates allergenic extracts (e.g., for allergy shots and tests), blood 

and blood components, gene therapy products, devices and test kits, human tissue and cellular products 

used in transplantation, and vaccines. The FDA transferred review of all recombinant proteins and 

monoclonal antibodies, except for hormones such as human growth hormone and insulin, to CBER. Then 

in 2003, the FDA transferred certain therapeutic biologic products from CBER to CDER. FDA, Transfer of 

Therapeutic Products to the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research available at

http://www.fda.gov/cber/transfer/transfer.htm. Accordingly, CDER regulates monoclonal antibodies 

designed as targeted therapies in cancer and other diseases, cytokines (types of proteins involved in 

immune response), growth factors (proteins that affect the growth of a cell) , enzymes (types of proteins 

that speed up biochemical reactions), such as thrombolytics (used to dissolve blood clots), 

immunomodulators (agents that affect immune response). Additionally cell therapies and gene therapies 

are reviewed by the FDA’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies. 42 U.S.C.A. § 262 (2009).

4 FDA's broad regulatory authority over biologic issues, including approval of biologic drug products 

resides in the PHS Act. The PHS Act also provides the FDA with the authority to: (a) protect the public 

against threats of emerging infectious diseases, (b) to promote the safe and appropriate use of biological 

products, (c) inspect manufacturing facilities of biologics before product approval is granted, and 

thereafter, on a regular basis, (d) monitor the safety of biological products after they are marketed (e) 

suspend biologic licenses where there exists a danger to public health, (f) prepare or procure products in the 

event of shortages and critical public health needs, and (g) prevent the introduction or spread of 

communicable diseases within the country. FDA, Frequently Asked Questions About Therapeutic 

Biological Products, available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/qa.htm.

B-1 
requirements of a Biologics License Application (BLA). The FD&C Act also regulates 

biologic products because most biologic products also meet the FD&C Act’s definition of 

"drugs". 

5

The small molecule and biologic pathways have one main difference: the FDA 

may approve generic small molecule drugs using an abbreviated pathway, but no 

abbreviated process exists for follow-on biologic drugs. 

 A. New Drug Approvals 

Although new small-molecule drug applicants file an NDA and new biologic drug 

applicants file a BLA, the development and regulatory approval process is similar for 

both categories.6

 For example, both small molecule and biologic drug applicants must 

establish medical benefit over patient risk.7 The applicant, or company sponsor, also 

must prove the product is safe and effective. To do so, the applicant submits an NDA or 

BLA that contains the following information: (a) preclinical analytical tests, preclinical 

studies, and formulation studies; (c) an Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) to 

initiate human clinical testing; (d) adequate and well-controlled human clinical trials to 

establish the safety and efficacy of the drug for its intended use; (e) approval and 

validation of manufacturing facilities used in production of the pharmaceutical product; 

(f) drug manufacture and analytical methods; and (g) proposed product packaging and 

labeling.8

 

 The preclinical phase of any new drug development typically begins with assays 

and large scale screening of compounds against targets of interest. Once a lead 

 

5 FD&C Act defines “drug” as “(B) articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or 

prevention of disease in man or animals; (C) articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or 

any function of the body of man or other animals; and (D) articles intended for use as a component of any 

article specified in clause (A), (B), or (C)." 21 U.S.C.A. § 321(g)(1) (2009). For historic reasons, 

recombinant human insulin and recombinant human growth hormone (“HGH”) were approved under 

section 505 of the FD&C Act, not under the PHS Act. See FDA, FDA 101: Biological Products, available 

at http://www.fda.gov/-consumer/updates-/biologics062608.html; see generally, FDA’s Center for Biologic 

Drug Evaluation (“CBER”) webpage, available at http://www.fda.gov/cber/about.htm. 

6 See FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) webpage, available at

http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/qa.htm; see also FDA, The New Drug Development Process: Steps from 

Test Tube to New Drug Application Review, available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/handbook/develop.htm. 

7 Behrman at 17, 19 (“the [FDA’s] review of any application, be it drug, be it a biological product, makes 

an assessment of what is in the best interest of the public given the available information. There will 

always be uncertainty. There is uncertainty about the simplest small molecule drugs.”); see id (“Although 

medical products are required to be safe, safety does not mean zero risk, since all medical products are 

associated with some level of risk. A safe biological product is one that has reasonable risks, given the 

patient's condition, the magnitude of the benefit expected, and the alternatives available. The choice to use 

a biological product involves balancing the benefits to be gained with the potential risks.”). 

8 See 42 U.S.C.A. § 262; 21 U.S.C.A. § 321 et seq.; and 21 C.F.R. 601.2. 

B-2
compound is isolated, preclinical safety trials are conducted, as well as trials in predictive 

animal models. This preclinical phase typically takes one to five years.9

 After 

preclinical tests are completed, a drug sponsor submits the results in an IND to the FDA 

for approval before human clinical trials begin. 

 

Human clinical trials typically consist of three phases. In Phase I clinical trials, a 

small group of healthy human patients are given the drug to determine if the drug is safe 

in humans.10 In Phase II clinical trials, a small sample of the intended patient population 

are given doses of the drug to provide a preliminary assessment of the efficacy of the 

drug for a specific clinical indication, find dose tolerance, and determine the optimal dose 

range. Safety data also is collected in Phase II as it is in all phases of drug testing.11 

Phase III studies are initiated if Phase I and Phase II studies indicate the drug is safe, and 

has some efficacy in the targeted patient population. Phase III clinical trials are designed 

to gather sufficient data in a broad target population in order to establish safety and 

efficacy for a particular indication.12 

The time needed to conduct these trials varies based on factors such as indication, 

availability of reliable biomarkers to measure efficacy, patient size, and ease of patient 

accrual. Phase I trials generally take one to two years. Phase II trials, including a full 

dose ranging study take two to three years. Phase III trials are the longest, taking 

approximately three to five years. Time variability, however, is significant as efficacy 

burdens vary. For example, it takes less time to collect the data using an accepted 

biomarker, such as blood cell levels, to measure efficacy of a treatment than it does for to 

collect data measuring disease free progression, mortality and morbidity data. Drug 

products also are subject to marketing exclusivities, described in more detail below. 

 B. Abbreviated Drug Approvals for Follow-on and Generic Products 

Prior to 1984, no process existed for abbreviated approval of generic smallmolecule drugs. Generic versions of drugs approved after 1962 could only be approved 

pursuant to either a full New Drug Application or a “paper NDA” application under 

Section 505(b)(2) of the FD&C Act.13 As a result, few companies developed generic 

drugs because of the high cost to perform the required clinical trials.14 

9 See e.g., Ernst Berndt, et al, Opportunities for Improving the Drug Development Process: Results from a 

Survey of Industry and the FDA, NBER Working Paper No. W11425, (June 2005), available at

http://ssrn.com/abstract=745818. 

10 See 21 C.F.R. §312.21(a) (2008). 

11 Id. §312.21(b). 

12 Id. §312.21(c). 

13 See H.R. Rep. 98-857(I), 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2647; Letter from Janet Woodcock, Director, CDER, FDA 

to Petitioners (October 14, 2003) at 6, available at 

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/DOCKETS/dailys/03/oct03/102403/03p-0408-pdn0001.pdf [hereinafter “FDA’s 

First Response to Omnitrope CPs”]. Generic drugs applications of drugs approved pre-1962 were approved 

B-3
 In 1984, Congress enacted the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the FD&C Act 

(“Hatch-Waxman”) which established an abbreviated regulatory pathway to approve 

generic drug versions of drugs approved under that act. Hatch-Waxman provided the 

FDA with discretionary authority to not require generic applicants duplicate the safety 

and efficacy trials of the reference drug. Rather the Hatch-Waxman Act authorized the 

FDA to rely on its prior findings of safety and efficacy of previously approved drug 

products when the agency later reviewed the generic drug’s application.15 The HatchWaxman Act reflected Congress’ attempt to balance the need to encourage innovation 

with the desire to speed the availability of lower cost alternatives to approved drugs.”16

1. The Section 505(b)(2) “Paper NDA” Pathway 

The 505(b)(2) or “paper NDA” pathway is a partially-abbreviated pathway for 

drugs that are similar to, but not copies of, a reference small-molecule drug. This 

pathway pre-existed the Hatch-Waxman Act. A 505(b)(2) applicant relies on one or 

more safety or efficacy investigations that were not conducted by the 505(b)(2) applicant, 

and for which the 505(b)(2) applicant has not obtained a right of reference, e.g., reliance 

on results in the published literature. This pathway is especially useful for new dosage 

forms, strengths, rates of administrations, dosing regimens and new indications. 

The 505(b)(2) pathway permits the FDA to rely “to the greatest extent possible on 

what is already known about a drug” so as to avoid requiring drug sponsors to conduct 

and submit studies that “are not scientifically necessary.” FDA has stated that many of 

the drugs approved via the 505(b)(2) route would never have reached the market, or 

would have been significantly delayed, without this pathway.17 Indeed, five significant 

FDA-identified harms could occur without the 505(b)(2) pathway: (1) diversion of 

industry resources that could otherwise be used to undertake innovative research; (2) 

increased drug costs; (3) strain on FDA review resources; (4) slowing of the process for 

drug approval with no corresponding benefit to the public health; and (5) significant 

ethical concerns raised by requiring duplicative studies that subject human beings and 

animals to medically and scientifically unjustified testing.18

 pursuant to the Drug Efficacy Study (“DESI”) program upon a showing that they were duplicates of the 

reference drug. The DESI system was obviated by Hatch-Waxman provisions. 

14 Post-1962 approved drugs whose patents had expired and were available for generic manufacturers, 

included five best selling drugs: Valium, Motrin, Inderal, Dyazide, and Lasix. See H.R. Rep. 98-857(I), 

1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2647 at 2650; FDA’s First Response to Omnitrope CPs at 6. 

 

15 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(A)(ii) – (iv) (2009). 

16 FDA’s First Response to Omnitrope CPs at 2 (citing Eli Lilly and Co. v. Medtronic, Inc., 496 U.S. 661 

(1990), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Royce Labs, Inc., 69 F.3d 1130, 1132-34 (Fed. Cir. 1995)). 

17 Id. at 4, citing approximately 80 drug approvals via the 505(b)(2) process. 

18 Id. at 3-4; H. REP. 98-857 (1984), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2647, at 2687 (“The only 

difference between a NDA and an ANDA is that the generic manufacturer is not required to conduct human 

clinical trials. FDA considers such retesting to be unnecessary and wasteful because the drug has already 

B-4
2. The 505(j) ANDA Pathway 

 As discussed above, in 1984, Congress created an abbreviated pathway for 

approval of generic small-molecule drugs, this also is known as the 505(j) ANDA 

Pathway. Hatch-Waxman was designed to facilitate competition from lower-priced 

generic drugs, while maintaining incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in 

developing new drugs.19 It also gave FDA discretionary authority to review an 

abbreviated new-drug application (“ANDA”) for generic small molecule drugs.20 This 

“reflected Congress’ attempt to balance the need to encourage innovation with the desire 

to speed the availability of lower cost alternatives to approved drugs.”21 

 Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, a generic drug applicant only is required to show 

that its product includes the same active ingredient(s) and is bioequivalent to a reference 

drug, but it does not need to replicate the clinical trials and other testing of the reference 

product.22 This process typically involves bioequivalency trials in healthy human 

volunteers, showing that a generic drug has the same levels of the same active 

pharmaceutical ingredient as the reference branded product. Because reference and 

ANDA drugs must have the same or similar API, dosage forms, strength, route of 

administration, labeling, quality, performance and intended use duplicate clinical trials 

are unnecessary. State substitution laws allow for the substitution of a bioequivalent 

generic product for the branded reference drug at the retail pharmacy without the doctor’s 

involvement. 

3. Patent Restoration and Patent Listings for New Drug Products

Before Hatch-Waxman, 505(b)(2) applicants could not begin preclinical or 

clinical trials until after patents expired on the relevant branded product without risking 

infringement of the branded product’s patents. The risk of patent infringement coupled 

with the FDA generic approval process, in effect, extended the term of the branded 

company’s patent protection and delayed market entry by follow-on applicants’ versions 

of branded pharmaceutical drug products.23 Hatch-Waxman limited the applicant’s 

 been determined to be safe and effective. moreover, such retesting is unethical because it requires that some 

sick patients take placebos and be denied treatment known to be effective.”); Behrman at 24-25. 

19 The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq., as amended by the Drug Price 

Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (the “Hatch-Waxman Act”) and the Medicare 

Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j) and 35 U.S.C.A. § 

271(e). 

20 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j) (2009). See 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(A)(ii)-(iv) (2009). 

21 FDA’s First Response to Omnitrope CPs at 2. 

22 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(A)(ii) – (iv) (2009). 

23 See FTC GENERIC DRUG STUDY at 7. The "Bolar Amendment” passed as part of the Hatch-Waxman, 

reversed the Federal Circuit’s decision in Roche Products, Inc. v. Bolar Pharmaceutical Co., 733 F.2d 858 

B-5
infringement liability so that it could begin the research, development, and manufacture 

of a drug product intended for FDA approval without infringing the branded product’s 

patents. 

Before 1984, branded pharmaceutical companies asserted that the effective terms 

of the patents covering their drugs were shortened due to the delays in the FDA approval 

process. To maintain incentives for branded drug product innovation in the face of 

generic competition, Congress included in the Hatch-Waxman Amendments patent 

restoration provisions that apply to drugs approved under both the FD&C Act and the 

PHS Act.24 The extension period is calculated on the basis of length of time required to 

study and gain approval of the patented product. A maximum of five years can be 

restored to the patent. In all cases, the total patent life for the product with the patent

extension cannot exceed 14 years from the product’s approval date, or in other words, 14 

years of potential marketing time. If the patent life of the product after approval has 14 

or more years, the product would not be eligible for patent extension.25

Additionally, Hatch-Waxman provided operational provisions to encourage 

simultaneous running of the patent resolution process with any regulatory approval 

process, including marketing exclusivity periods.26 To accomplish this, Hatch-Waxman 

amended the FDA’s new drug approval process to require that the reference branded 

company list all of the reference drug’s patents, and patent extensions.27 Once these 

 (Fed.Cir.1984), and provided that “[I]t shall not be an act of infringement to make, use, offer to sell, or sell 

within the United States or import into the United States a patented invention...solely for uses reasonably 

related to the development and submission of information [to support a market approval to the FDA]”; 35 

U.S.C.A. § 271(e)(1); Merck v. Integra, 545 U.S. 193 (2005)(Section 271(e)(1) provides a wide berth for 

use of patented drugs in activities related to federal regulatory process, including uses reasonably related to 

the development and submission of any information to the FDA); Eli Lilly & Co. v. Medtronic, Inc., 496 

U.S. 661 (1990) (It is not an act of infringement to use or import into the United States patented invention 

solely for uses reasonably related to the development and submission of information to the FDA for 

product approvals). 

24 See H. REP. 98-857 (1984), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2647 at 2687; PhRMA, Delivering on the 

Promise of Pharmaceutical Innovation: The Need to Maintain Strong and Predictable Intellectual Property 

Rights,” (April 22, 2002); FTC Generic Drug Study at 7. 

25 See 35 U.S.C.A. § 156. See also FDA CDER, Small Business Assistance: Frequently Asked Questions on 

the Patent Term Restoration Program, available at 

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/SmallBusinessAssistance/ucm069959.htm. 

26 FDA’s First Response to Omnitrope CPs at 6. 

27 Section 505 of the Hatch-Waxman Amendments requires an NDA applicant, including some 505(b)(2) 

applicants, to submit to the FDA (for publication in the Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic 

Equivalence Evaluations (“the Orange Book”) the identifying all US patents that claim the drug substance, 

methods of formulating, composition of matter, and of method of using the drug and which could be 

infringed. 

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patents are listed in the Orange Book it is incumbent upon the follow-on applicants to 

certify how these patents relate to its drug product.28 

 

If an ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA applicant certifies that a referenced drug patent 

information has not been filed in the Orange Book, or that such patent has expired, then 

the FDA may approve the application immediately, provided other requirements are 

met.29 If the applicant certifies that it will not launch its product until after the referenced 

product’s patents expire, the FDA may approve the application effective on the date the 

patent expires.30 However, if an applicant makes a certification under Paragraph IV, 

Hatch-Waxman requires that the applicant to also provide notice to both the patent holder 

and the NDA filer.31 Once the ANDA filer has provided such notice, a patent holder 

(usually the referenced branded company) must bring an infringement suit within 45 days 

to trigger the 30-month stay of FDA approval of the application. Hatch-Waxman 

provides a 30-month stay of FDA approval with a detailed statement of the factual and 

legal basis for the applicant’s assertion that the patent is invalid or not infringed. If suit is 

not filed by that date, the FDA may approve the application. If patent infringement 

litigation is initiated by the branded product company within the 45-day period, then the 

FDA approval of the application is stayed until the earliest of: (1) the date the patent(s) 

expire; (2) a final determination of non-infringement or patent invalidity by a court in the 

patent litigation; or (3) the expiration of the 30 months from receipt of notice of the 

paragraph IV certification.32

4. Marketing Exclusivities 

Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, FDA enforces five types of exclusivity: (1) new 

chemical entity – five years; (2) new clinical investigation – three years; (3) orphan drug 

– seven years; (4) pediatric – six months; and (5) ANDA patent challenge exclusivity –

 

28 Both 505(b)(2) and 505(j) applicants must certify to each reference listed patents when they file their 

drug applications, stating either that: (1) under Paragraph I that such patent information has not been filed; 

or (2) under Paragraph II that such patent has expired; or (3) under Paragraph III the date on which such 

patent will expire, or (4) under Paragraph IV such patent is invalid or will not be infringed by the new drug 

. No ANDA or 505(b)(2) NDA will be approved by the FDA until all the listed Orange Book patents on 

the reference drug have expired, or have been successfully challenged by an applicant, or any applicable 

30-month stay has expired. 21 C.F.R. 314.107; 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(7)(A); 21 U.S.C.A. § 

355(j)(2)(A)(vii); 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV); see also H. REP. 98-857 (1984), as reprinted in 

1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2647 at 2655 (“the committee recognizes that in some instances an applicant will have 

to make multiple certifications with respect to product or controlling use patents. For example, if the 

product patent has expired and a valid controlling use patent will not expire for three years, then the 

applicant must certify that one patent has expired and the other will expire in three years.”).

29 These are often referred to as Paragraph I and II certifications. 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(5)(B)(i)-(ii); 21 

U.S.C.A. § 355(b)(2)(A)(i)-(ii). 

30 21 U.S.C.A. § 355 (j)(5)(B)(iii). 

31 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(2)(B). 

32 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(5)(B)(iii). 

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180 days. The first four apply only to New Drug Application (“NDA”) filers. The fifth 

applies only to Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”), i.e. generic, filers. The 

Orange Book lists all exclusivities granted to each approved-drug product. 

 New chemical entity (NCE) exclusivity provides five years of exclusivity, from 

the date of approval of the first NDA, for new drug applications containing new chemical 

entities never previously approved by FDA, either alone, or in combination.33 An NCE is 

a drug that contains “no active moiety previously approved by the FDA.”34 No ANDA 

or 505(b)(2) application may be submitted during the five-year NCE period, except th

such applications may be submitted after four years if they contain a certification of 

patent invalidity or non-infringement (i.e., paragraph IV certifications). 

at 

 

NCE exclusivity is the only exclusivity that bars the FDA from even accepting 

applications for review (as opposed to allowing the submission and review of such 

applications and simply delaying FDA approval). The five-year exclusivity period does 

not bar the FDA from accepting another full competitor NDA if the sponsor of the second 

application has done all of the work itself. As a practical matter, NCE exclusivity delays 

competition for more than five (or four) years because, once the application has been 

submitted, it typically takes the FDA at least an additional year to review and approve the 

ANDA. 

New clinical investigation (NCI) exclusivity grants three years of exclusivity for 

certain changes to a drug product.35 It prohibits FDA from approving an application for 

the same product for three years.36 This exclusivity begins at the approval of the product, 

and is limited to the changes in the product supported by the new clinical studies. To 

obtain NCI exclusivity, the application or supplement must contain reports of new 

clinical investigations conducted by the sponsor. Several requirements apply, including 

that the study be clinical (i.e., in humans, not animals), that it be new (and generally not 

33 A “new chemical entity” or “NCE” is a drug that contains no active ingredient (including any ester or salt 

thereof) previously approved under section 505(b); 21 U.S.C.A. § 355, FD&C Act § 505 (c)(3)(D)(ii)-(iv), 

§ 505(j)(5)(D)(ii)-(iv). The 5 year exclusivity provision of the Hatch-Waxman Act applies only to drug 

products approved under section 505(b) of the FD&C Act and not biologics. See FD&C Act. § 

505(c)(3)(E)(ii). 

34 21 C.F.R. § 314.08(a) (2008). An active moiety is “the molecule or ion, excluding those appended 

portions of the molecule that cause the drug to be an ester, salt (including a salt with hydrogen or 

coordination bonds), or other noncovalent derivative (such as a complex, chelate, or clathrate) of the 

molecule responsible for the physiological or pharmacological action of the drug substance.” Id. CDER 

makes NCE exclusivity determinations on all relevant applications. CDER reviews all relevant 

applications, with or without a request from the applicant, for an exclusivity determination. There is no 

requirement to apply. 

35 21 C.F.R. § 314.108(b)(4)-(5). 

36 Unlike the five-year exclusivity for NCE, which bars submission of an application, the three-year 

exclusivity bars approval of an application, so that the agency can accept an application and review it 

during this time period. Like NCE exclusivity, new clinical investigation exclusivity will not bar approval 

of a full NDA where the applicant has done the work to support the same change for a drug product. 

B-8
used for another drug approval purpose), and that it be essential to approval (i.e., not 

merely interesting and useful). 

Seven years of exclusivity also is available for Orphan drugs (i.e. drugs that treat 

a patient population with a target population less than 200,000).37 The Orphan Drug Act 

of 1983 established an exclusivity period designed to provide an incentive to 

pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop drugs to treat rare diseases or conditions 

affecting relatively small numbers of persons. An orphan drug is defined as one treating 

a disease or condition which affects less than 200,000 persons in the United States or 

affects more than 200,000 persons but for which there is "no reasonable expectation that 

the cost of developing and making available in the United States a drug for such disease 

or condition will be recovered from sales in the United States of such drug." 

Obtaining orphan drug status is a two-step process. First, the applicant must 

apply for, and receive, orphan-drug designation from the Office of Orphan Products 

Development at the FDA. Orphan designation qualifies the sponsor of the product for 

the tax credit and marketing incentives of the Act in exchange for developing the drug for 

a rare disease or condition. Second, like any other new drug, the orphan-designated drug 

must submit its full NDA for safety and efficacy review. 

If the NDA is approved for the indication for which the orphan designation was 

granted, the developer of an orphan product receives seven years of market exclusivity 

following the approval of the product by the FDA. Orphan drug exclusivity protects the 

drug for the approved orphan indication against all other competitors. Unlike other 

exclusivities, orphan exclusivity protects the orphan drug even from a second full NDA 

for the same indication submitted by another applicant. Exclusivity applies only to the 

indication for which the drug has been designated and approved, however, so that a 

second application for the same drug for a different use could be approved by the FDA. 

 Any small molecule or biologic drug product can also obtain an additional six 

months of marketing exclusivity for demonstrating the safety, dosing and efficacy of the 

product in children.38 Congress provided for a six-month pediatric exclusivity period in 

response to a perceived need for an incentive to encourage companies to complete and 

submit studies on the pediatric uses of drugs. Pediatric exclusivity attaches to all the 

applicant's formulations, dosage forms, and indications for products with existing 

marketing exclusivity or patent life that contains the same active moiety. 

This is a broad grant because it attaches not only to the specific product that was 

studied in the pediatric population, but to all drug products (formulations, dosage forms, 

and indications) with the same active moiety. To balance this broad grant of exclusivity, 

the FDA requires pediatric studies of all drugs that contain the active moiety. This does 

 

37 21 U.S.C.A. § 360aa-dd. 

38 21 U.S.C.A. § 355a. The FDA grant of 6 months exclusivity is added to any existing marketing 

exclusivity or patent protection. This exclusivity incentivizes firms to conduct pediatric drug studies. 

B-9
not mean that a sponsor must show that the drug is safe or effective in the pediatric 

population to obtain pediatric exclusivity. Instead, the goal simply is to develop a 

maximum amount of pediatric information as a result of the grant of exclusivity. 

Pediatric exclusivity may therefore be granted upon acceptance of the pediatric study 

reports. 

Pediatric exclusivity is unique because it attaches to the end of all existing 

marketing exclusivity and patent periods. This distinguishes it from other types of 

exclusivity and patent periods, which run concurrently. For example, if a drug sponsor 

has five-year NCE exclusivity (which is valuable because it bars competitors from even 

submitting applications to the FDA); the six-month pediatric exclusivity will provide six 

additional months of NCE exclusivity. If the drug sponsor has three years of new clinical 

investigation exclusivity, which bars the FDA from approving a competing application, 

the six-month pediatric exclusivity will provide six additional months of the same 

protection. If the drug sponsor has a patent, FDA-enforced exclusivity will be added at 

the end of the patent term. 

 The Hatch-Waxman Act grants 180 days of marketing exclusivity to certain 

generic drug applications. The statute provides an incentive of 180 days of market 

exclusivity to the “first” generic applicant who challenges a listed patent by filing a 

paragraph IV certification and therefore runs the risk of having to defend a patent 

infringement suit. As a practical matter, if multiple ANDA filers file paragraph IV 

certifications on the same day and all are found acceptable for filing, multiple applicants 

may share the 180-day exclusivity. The statute provides that the first application to file a 

substantially complete ANDA containing a paragraph IV certification to a listed patent 

will be eligible for a 180-day period of exclusivity beginning either from the date it 

begins commercial marketing of the generic drug product, or from the date of a court 

decision finding the patent invalid, unenforceable or not infringed, whichever is first. 

These two events – first commercial marketing and a court decision favorable to the 

generic – are often called “triggering” events, because under the statute they can trigger 

the beginning of the 180-day exclusivity period. Approval of the ANDA alone has no 

effect on triggering the 180-day patent exclusivity period. 

If there is no court decision, and the first applicant does not begin commercial 

marketing of the generic drug, there may be prolonged or indefinite delays in the 

beginning of the first applicant’s 180-day exclusivity period. Until an eligible ANDA 

applicant’s 180-day exclusivity period has expired, the FDA cannot approve 

subsequently submitted ANDAs for the same drug, even if the later ANDAs are 

otherwise ready for approval and the sponsors are wiling to immediately begin 

marketing. Therefore, as a practical matter, an ANDA applicant who is eligible for 

exclusivity is often in the position to delay all generic competition for the branded drug. 

In 2003, the Medicare Modernization Act amended the Hatch Waxman Act, to 

provide an 180-day market exclusivity period to the first generic company that seeks 

FDA approval to market at product prior to the expiration of certain patents relating the 

branded drug product. No other generic manufacturer may obtain FDA approval to 

B-10
B-11

 

market its product until the first generic applicant has sold its product for 180 days, 

unless the later generic applicant wins a patent challenge against the branded company.39

 

The Hatch-Waxman Act also provides marketing exclusivity incentives to any 

NDA holder based on the level of innovation represented by the drug product. Any “new 

chemical entity” receives five years of marketing exclusivity. During this five-year 

period, the FDA may not review any 505(b)(2) or 505(j) applications that reference this 

new chemical entity. However, if an ANDA files a paragraph II certification against this 

NCE, exclusivity is limited to four years.40 The FDA may not approve this application 

until after seven and one half years or patent litigation is resolved.41

 

39 There are provisions for a generic company to forfeit the exclusivity period, which occur in limited 

circumstances. 

40 21 U.S.C.A. §355(c)(3)(E)(iii); 21 U.S.C.A. §355(j)(5)(F)(iii).

41 21 U.S.C.A. § 355(j)(5)(F).
APPENDIX C

PUBLIC COMMENTS 

FTC ROUNDTABLE ON COMPETITON ISSUES INVOLVING

FOLLOW-ON BIOLOGIC DRUGS

NOVEMBER 21, 2008 

NAME TITLE OF COMMENT

American Association of 

Retired Persons 

(David P. Sloane) 

12/22/2008 

American Enterprise Institute

(John E. Calfee) 

12/10/2008

• When Patents Are Not Enough: Data Exclusivity 

for Follow-On Biologics 

Amgen, Inc. 

(David W. Beier) 

9/30/2008 

Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

(Bruce L. Downey) 

9/30/2008 

Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

(Bruce L. Downey) 

12/19/2008 

Bayer HealthCare LLC 

(Sandra S. Oliver) 

10/2/2008 

Bernstein Research 

(Ronny Gal) 

12/9/2008

• Eight Thoughts on Biosimilars 

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(John M. Taylor, III) 

9/30/2008 

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(John M. Taylor, III) 

12/22/2008 

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(Sandra J. P. Dennis) 

2/24/2009 

C-1 
NAME TITLE OF COMMENT

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(Sandra J. P. Dennis) 

2/24/2009 

• Unpatentable Drugs and the Standards of 

Patentability, Benjamin N. Roin, (May 1, 2008)

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(Sandra J. P Dennis) 

2/24/2009 

• Biosimilars, Data Exclusivity, and the Incentives 

for Innovation: A Critique of Kotlikoff’s White 

Paper, Henry C. Grabowski and Joseph DiMasi,

(February 2009) 

Biotechnology Industry 

Organization 

(Sandra J. P. Dennis) 

2/24/2009

• Data Exclusivity Period Length and Federal 

Government Savings from Enactment of the Biologics 

Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2007, Joseph 

Golec, John A. Vernon, and Ted Buckley, (January 

28, 2009)

Coalition for a Competitive 

Pharmaceutical Market 

(Annette Guarisco) 

9/30/2008 

CVS Caremark Corporation

(David Golding) 

12/22/2008 

Duke University 

(Henry C. Grabowski) 

12/22/2008 

Duke University 

(Henry C. Grabowski) 

12/23/2008 

• Data Exclusivity Periods for Biologics: Updating 

Prior Analyses and Responding to Critiques, 

(December 22, 2008)

Duncan Bucknell Company 

(Duncan Bucknell) 

1/9/2009 

Eli Lilly and Company 

(Douglas K. Norman) 

12/19/2008 

Essential Action 

(Sarah Rimmington) 

12/20/2008 

Generic Pharmaceutical 

Association 

(Lisa K. Layman) 

9/30/2008 

C-2 
NAME TITLE OF COMMENT

Hospira, Inc. 5/19/2009

Hospira, Inc. 

(Lori N. Bowman) 

9/30/2008 

Hospira, Inc. 

(Lori N. Bowman) 

12/22/2008 

Johnson & Johnson, Inc. 3/17/2009 

• Executive Summary, Achieving the Right Balance 

between Innovation and Competition: The Role of 

Data Exclusivity

Johnson & Johnson, Inc. 3/17/2009 

• Achieving the Right Balance between Innovation 

and Competition: The Role of Data Exclusivity

Matrix Global Advisors, LLC

(Alex M. Brill) 

12/22/2008 

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(Bruce A. Leicher) 

9/30/2008 

Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(Bruce A. Leicher) 

12/22/2008 

Mylan, Inc. 

(David Rice) 

1/5/2009 

Novartis Corporation 

(Robert E. Pelzer) 

9/29/2008 

Novartis Corporation

(Robert E. Pelzer) 

12/22/2008 

Office of Health Economics

(Adrian Towse) 

12/31/2008 

Pharmaceutical Care 

Management Association 

(Missy Jenkins) 

9/26/2008 

C-3 
C-4 

NAME TITLE OF COMMENT

Pharmaceutical Research and 

Manufacturers of America 

(Billy Tauzin) 

9/30/2008 

Pharmaceutical Research and 

Manufacturers of America 

(Billy Tauzin) 

12/22/2008 

Robert J. Reinhart 10/19/2008 

Talecris Biotherapeutics 

(Bruce Bunyan) 

9/30/2008 

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA

(David T. Sanders) 

10/8/2008 

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 

on behalf of Hospira, Inc. 

(Kelsey I. Nix) 

12/22/2008 

Winston & Strawn LLP 

(James F. Hurst,.) 

12/22/2008 

Wyeth 

(Matthew D. Eyles) 

9/30/2008 

Wyeth 

(Matthew D. Eyles) 

12/18/2008 

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

(William B. Schultz) 

12/22/2008 

Primary Source: http://ftc.gov/os/comments/healthcarecompissues/index.shtm 
APPENDIX D: 

PARTICIPANTS AT FTC ROUNDTABLE, 

NOVEMBER 21, 2008 

NAME AFFILIATION 

Alexis Ahlstrom Avalere Health LLC 

Geoffrey Allan Insmed Incorporated 

Aaron F. Barkoff McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff 

LLP 

Rachel E. Behrman U.S. Food and Drug Administration 

Alex M. Brill American Enterprise Institute; 

Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC 

Steven B. Brugger Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

Edward Buckley Biotechnology Industry Organization 

Kenneth J. Dow Johnson & Johnson, Inc. 

Suzanne B. Drennon Federal Trade Commission 

Christopher J. Garmon Federal Trade Commission 

David Golding CVS Caremark Corporation 

Ken Goldman Novartis Corporation 

Mark A. Goshko Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. 

Henry C. Grabowski Duke University 

Pamela Jones Harbour Federal Trade Commission 

Paul Heldman Potomac Research Group 

Linda R. Horton Hogan & Hartson LLP 

D-1 
APPENDIX D 

D-2 

NAME AFFILIATION 

Elizabeth A. Jex Federal Trade Commission 

Esther M. Kleppinger Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC 

Jeffrey P. Kushan Sidley Austin, LLP 

John A. Lane Hospira, Inc. 

Bruce A. Leicher Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 

David A. Manspeizer Wyeth 

Suzanne T. Michel Federal Trade Commission 

Steven B. Miller Express Scripts, Inc. 

Douglas K. Norman Eli Lilly and Company 

Naomi Pearce Hospira, Inc. 

Audrey Phillips Johnson & Johnson, Inc. 

Hans Sauer Biotechnology Industry Organization 

William B. Schultz Zuckerman Spaeder LLP 

Rochelle K. Seide Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner PA 

Christine J. Siwik Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi Siwik LLP 

Mateja Urlep Novartis AG (Sandoz Ltd.) 

Michael S. Wroblewski Federal Trade Commission 

Bryan C. Zielinski Pfizer, Inc. 

Primary Source: http://ftc.gov/bc/workshops/hcbio/agenda/fobagenda.pdf 
Federal Trade Commission

600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20580

ftc.gov