Generic Biotech Drugs - NYTimes.com You rightly assert (editorial, May 2) that the high cost of brand-name cancer and autoimmune medicines keeps them out of reach for too many. By 2016, yearly spending on brand biologics will reach $60 billion. There is a pragmatic solution on the horizon: safe, affordable, biosimilar versions of these critical therapies. Biosimilars have been proved safe and effective in Europe for seven years. Still, manufacturers await the guidance of the Food and Drug Administration, which is needed to bring these medicines to American patients. Unfortunately, as you noted in January, large biotech companies are promoting state legislation to restrict patient access to biosimilars under the guise of patient safety, well before F.D.A. guidance is even complete. Eighteen state legislatures have introduced biosimilar measures potentially burdensome to patients, pharmacists and health plans. We must do everything possible to encourage, not thwart, efforts to bring biosimilars to patients in need of affordable treatment options. RALPH G. NEAS President and Chief Executive Generic Pharmaceutical Association Washington, May 9, 2013