Mary Caffrey

A long-awaited report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finds that vertical integration and consolidation have worked against consumers and independent pharmacies.

Eculizumab is used to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare bone marrow disorder in which expansion of certain hematopoietic cells that lack a key protein cause the destruction of red blood cells, or hemolysis.

Study authors found the pair of biosimilars performed as well as others that have been evaluated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but concluded that the adalimumab biosimilars were less effective in IBD than an infliximab biosimilar previously studied.

The biosimilar candidate would reference Prolia, used in the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and to treat bone loss in adult men and women who are at increased risk of fracture. It is also planned as a biosimilar for Xgeva, which is indicated to prevent skeletal fractures in patients with cancer.

Amgen's early view said health care savings from the use of these biologic therapies climbed to $3 billion in the second quarter of 2022, for total of $18 billion over the past 6 years.

Some of the problems with use of biologics in the cardiovascular field resemble those seen with all biologic drugs, while the authors say others are unique to the complexity of cardiovascular disease.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will require the 6 largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to submit records and answer questions regarding their business practices.

Stacie B. Dusetzina, PhD, is the Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and a member of the editorial board for The American Journal of Managed Care®.

If approved, Celltrion's CT-P16 would be the fourth bevacizumab biosimilar to reach the market.

At a session at the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ 2022 Annual Meeting & Cancer Center Business Summit, panelists suggested that the quest for rebates by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) prevents uptake on some biosimilars—and could soon bleed over into biosimilar formulary placement.

There remains risk in the US market due to regulatory and legal hurdles—not to mention a combative political environment, according to executives who gathered last week during the “CEOs Unplugged” session at Access! 2022, held by the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) in Orlando.

Purva Rawal, PhD, senior advisor and chief strategy officer, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, spoke during the Association for Accessible Medicines' Access! annual meeting, which gathered in Orlando, Florida, February 15-16.

Iceland’s national health plan required patients to switch from Humira to the Samsung Bioepis biosimilar, Imraldi, which had a different injection device and contained citrate, a chemical buffer used to maintain the medication’s stability.

The year 2022 “is set to be a turning point” in the United States, as biosimilars are on their way to delivering $133 billion in aggregate savings by 2025, according to Cardinal Health's “2022 Biosimilars Report: The U.S. Journey and Path Ahead.”

Douglas M. Long, MBA, vice president of Industry Relations for IQVIA, surveyed COVID-19's effects on the pharmaceutical marketplace as he kicked off AMCP eLearning Days, a webinar series held in place of the annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).

Soumi Saha, PharmD, JD, senior director of advocacy at Premier, Inc, discusses drug shortages caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and policy recommendations that could fix the problem.

The leading generic drug manufacturer launched Truxima, a biosimilar for rituximab, in November 2019 at a 10% discount to the reference product, Rituxan.

Just 6% of the Asian doctors said they felt confident using biosimilars in clinical practice. A survey of European doctors found a similar confidence level in 2013, but that level had climbed to 28.8% by 2015.

The presentation at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network reviewed regulatory requirements and updates in the 2019 guidelines that affected biosimilars.