A new drug that could save the US billions of dollars just got one step closer to approval

A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee just gave a critical recommendation for a version of Remicade, a drug used to treat autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

The independent panel voted 21-3 in favor of the drug, which was developed by Celltrion and goes by the name Remsima.

The drug is called a "biosimilar," which is like a generic version of a biologic medication, a medicine produced by living cells.

But it's a bit more complicated than that. Unlike generics for chemical-based drugs — think antibiotics or birth-control pills — that can be interchangeable with branded versions, the copycats of biologic medications, produced using living cells, have a few more caveats because the drugs might have different reactions in your body.

By other calculations, Dr. Steven Miller, the CMO of pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts, told Business Insider that the US could be saving $250 billion over the next 10 years. The discount of putting people on far less costly biosimilars — even just new patients who have never taken the original — will be substantial.