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Published online 19 September 2007 | Nature 449, 274-276 (2007) | doi:10.1038/449274a

News Feature

Biotechs go generic: The same but different

As several lucrative protein-based drugs are poised to go off patent, makers of biopharmaceuticals argue that their products are too complex to be reproduced as generics. Heidi Ledford investigates how close 'biosimilar' drugs can get to the original.

In 2006, Craig Wheeler, then president of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals in Emeryville, California, received a call from across the country that would challenge his perspective on the biotechnology industry. Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a small firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was looking for a new chief executive.

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