Biological drugs, like trastuzumab are tough to perfectly replicate Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Library
BIOLOGICAL drugs are the new darlings of medicine. In recent years, they have doubled treatment rates for several cancers, arthritis and Crohn’s disease. But these medicines, which are large, complex molecules produced by living cells, carry hefty price tags, and now comprise eight of the world’s top 10 money-spinning drugs.
A one-year course of the biological breast cancer drug trastuzumab (sold as Herceptin), for example, costs $50,000. In the UK, biologics have contributed to a 29 per cent rise in National Health Service spending…
