Hospira Inc. (HSP) expects the experience of entering the biosimilar market in Europe to benefit its planned entry into the U.S., regardless of whether legislation provides a path for generic biotech drugs.

Hospira, spun off from Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in 2004, sells injectable generic drugs and medical devices, and is developing biosimilars that have $18 billion in current branded sales. Chief Executive Christopher Begley doesn't expect biosimilars to become key to its financial forecasts for at least five years, but he is learning a few tricks about the future market from going head-to-head with biotech marketing veterans Amgen (AMGN) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

"When you have a drug that is $1 billion or $2 billion and very profitable, you don't go away easily," Begley said, noting that the branded companies are using "every possible tactic out there to prevent generic competition from entering the market and establishing themselves."

A J&J spokesman declined to comment, while Amgen officials didn't respond to questions. Biosimilars have hurt sales of branded drugs, reportedly causing prices to drop 25%-30% on certain biologics in Europe.

Biosimilars are as close to a generic version as possible for complex biologic drugs, which are produced through biological processes, but there is currently no regulatory pathway for their approval in the U.S. That could change as their introduction is expected to be part of coming healthcare reform.

Several biosimilars are sold in Europe, including erythropoietin, or EPO, an anemia treatment sold as Epogen by Amgen and used widely in cancer, kidney and HIV patients.

Amgen doesn't sell the drug in Europe because of a licensing agreement with Johnson & Johnson, which sells a similar product called Eprex. Amgen does sell Aranesp, a longer lasting version of Epogen, and has admitted to cutting prices to defend market share in response biosimilar competition in some countries.

Both drugs are costly. In the U.S., they are among Medicare's top medication expenses.

Hospira launched a biosimilar of Epogen in Europe last year, called Retacrit, and plans to launch a biosimilar of Amgen's Neupogen, used in chemotherapy patients, in late 2010. Other copycat versions of both products are already on the market. Hospira plans to enter the U.S. market with a biosimilar of Epogen in 2015.

Begley estimates that biosimilars only make up about 5% of the total EPO market in Europe, but he said Hospira has a 30% market share and is about two-thirds into its launch, already selling in 15 counties.

In the process, Hospira is learning about how the branded companies present data related to the drugs to physicians, including "how medical professionals are used and what those medical professionals say or don't say."

Although Begley doesn't expect the U.S. market to be identical to Europe, he expects many lessons to translate.

"It better prepares us for the U.S., when the hand-to-hand combat takes place between the sales reps," he said.

Although Begley expects biosimilar legislation in the U.S. by year-end, he is prepared to pursue other options to bring biosimilars to the market. That could include filing a biologic license application with the Food and Drug Administration - the current process for introducing a new biologic therapy - and using clinical trials to demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of the drug.

It is unclear if such a tactic would succeed, but Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) has said it may pursue a similar strategy if timely biosimilar legislation doesn't pass.

-Thomas Gryta; Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2169; thomas.gryta@dowjones.com