Pharmas reel from $215M PBS cut

More than $215 million has been knocked off future PBS earnings, as a deal between Arrotex and South Korea's Celltrion sees two blockbusters face biosimilar competition - one for the first time - while Sandoz takes aim at another blockbuster market.

The two franchises hit with the statutory 25 per cent price reduction from today have a combined PBS earnings of $874.5 million a year, leaving Johnson & Johnson and Amgen significantly lighter in the pocket.

Johnson & Johnson's Stelara has been joined by Celltrion's SteQeyma for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis, while Novartis' Xolair will see biosimilar competition from Celltrion's Omlyclo in treating uncontrolled severe asthma, uncontrolled severe allergic asthma, and severe chronic spontaneous urticaria.