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Pfizer files suit claiming Johnson & Johnson stifles biosimilar competition
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Pfizer, the manufacturer of Inflectra, a biosimilar to Janssen’s Remicade, filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Janssen, for “exclusionary contracts and other anticompetitive practices” that Pfizer maintains inhibits competition of their biosimilar in the approved markets.
“As evident by their success in markets such as Europe, we know biosimilars can improve patient access to important, life-saving medicines. We stand with patients and are fully committed to deliver on the increased therapeutic choices and potential savings that biosimilars can bring; however, we must make sure there are no artificial barriers in the commercial insurance market that may limit coverage and use of biosimilars,” John Young, Pfizer’s group president, essential health, said in a press release from Pfizer. “It’s not in the best interest of patients and our health care system if originator companies like J&J can use their dominant market position to prevent access to lower cost, effective biosimilar medicines in the U.S. Pfizer is committed to challenging practices like those implemented by J&J that block biosimilar options for patients and price competition – through the courts and by working with policymakers and regulators – so that patients have a wide range of treatment options available to them at a competitive price.”
The suit alleges that although insurance providers originally classified the biosimilar as on par with the originator drug, they then recanted due to threats of rebate withholdings from Johnson & Johnson. Pfizer claims Johnson & Johnson threatened to remove the rebates if insurers did not exclude biosimilars from coverage.
Pfizer states that these exclusions happened despite a 19% lower wholesale cost and 10% lower average selling price of Inflectra when compared to Remicade.
Janssen refuted the merit of this suit:
“We are effectively competing on value and price and to date; Pfizer has failed to demonstrate sufficient value to patients, providers, payers and employers,” Scott White, president, Janssen Biotech Inc., told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “Competition is bringing down the overall cost of infliximab including Remicade, and will continue to bring down costs in the future. There is no merit to this lawsuit.” – by Adam Leitenberger and Katrina Altersitz
Reference:
Pfizer Pharmaceutical News and Media. Pfizer goes to court to allow competition for biologics and expand options for patients. http://press.pfizer.com/press-release/pfizer-goes-court-allow-competition-biologics-and-expand-options-patients. Accessed on September 20, 2017.
Disclosures: White is an employee of Janssen. Young is an employee of Pfizer.