Creative imitation in late industrializing countries: the case of biosimilars in Korea and India

SZTULWARK, SEBASTIÁN; PABLO LAVARELLO; MATÍAS MANCINI; SANTIAGO JUNCAL

Bariloche

Congreso; Segundo Congreso Argentino de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología (CAESCyT); 2016

IESCT ESCYT CITECDE

Given that the patents of the first high cost and complex biopharmaceuticals have started to expire, biotechnology offers opportunities for developing countries to pursue an upgrading process by entering the sector as early imitators. In the case of biotechnology applied to the health sector, the characteristics of the innovation process and the specificity of the regulatory process for biopharmaceuticals raises new questions as to the learning path open to the developing countries that intend to build an industrial promotion strategy on the basis of early entry as imitators. While there was a first generation of biotechnological drugs that could be replicated with relative ease, second-generation biotechnological drugs are more complex and face greater regulatory barriers. Given those specific characteristics, it is worth asking how far creative imitation strategies could constitute an opportunity for late late industrializing countries to undertake rapid industrial upgrading processes.In order to answer this question, this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains a brief conceptual discussion on industrial upgrading in ?late late? industrializing countries. Section 3 is an analysis of changes in international competitive dynamics and the specificities of biotechnology trajectories in the health sector. Section 4 presents the cases of South Korea and India, two countries that have managed to take firm steps forward in the field of creative imitation of second-generation biosimilars. Finally, in Section 5 we reflect on industrial upgrading and creative imitation in late late industrializing countries and draw certain conclusions.