(AP) — U.S. regulators have taken action that will make it easier to get a cheaper and similar version of a brand-name insulin at the drugstore.
Doctors now have to specifically prescribe what’s called a biosimilar or OK substituting it for a more expensive brand-name insulin.
Wednesday’s move by the Food and Drug Administration will allow pharmacists to automatically substitute the cheaper version, just as they do with generic pills for other kinds of drugs. It could save diabetics and health plans millions of dollars annually.
It’s the FDA’s first approval of an “interchangeable” biosimilar, a near-copy of an injected medicine that’s manufactured inside living cells.
