Is Obama backing down on biosimilars?

Few industries were as keen to see a new healthcare reform bill pass as BIO, which had carefully shepherded a provision providing 12 years of data exclusivity for biologics through a gauntlet of consumer advocates who would have gleefully cut that span down to five years. Obama's new reform proposal says only that he would create a regulatory pathway for biosimilars, leaving out the time frame. And backers of the 12-year exemption, which was in both the House and Senate bills, hope that means that the president is willing to drop his own objections to BIO's legislative coup and take what he can get. Report