Policy

The Center for Biosimilars® provided news and insight during June 2021 in the form of interviews with key opinion leaders and coverage of major events. Catch up on what you missed.

Teva and Bioeq partner on ranibizumab, Organon joins the Biosimilars Forum, and the Alliance for Patient Access issues educational material for oncology biosimilars.

The BIOSIM Act would increase the add-on payment for use of a biosimilar, thereby incentivizing practitioners to use these products more often, according to proponents of the bill.

Investigators reported high overall response rates and savings of roughly $1400 per patient across cohorts.

Authors of an opinion piece suggest that a "reliance" approach to biosimilar approval could lead to global standards for acceptance that cut down on wasted review time and obsolete clinical investigation.

Sizeable savings per patient with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were anticipated by a Medicare savings model.

A turning point for interchangeable biosimilars has arrived, as the first may be approved this year, but many questions about these agents have yet to be answered, according to Laura Sim, senior counsel for Amgen.

Cigna said it will push biosimilar forms of infliximab onto the preferred list and reward patients who make the switch.

Investigators determine that converting at least 2 patients with metastatic breast cancer to a trastuzumab biosimilar could generate savings enough to treat a third patient.

Tahir Amin, Dip LP, co-executive director of I-MAK, discusses some hot-button issues regarding the US patent system, including AbbVie’s alleged abuse of it, and his hopes for improvement.

Sophia Z. Humphreys, PharmD, MHA, explains how biosimilar utilization management can enable health care institutions to put COVID-19–related financial wreckage behind them.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals develops its biosimilar pipeline with mAbxience, Xcenda estimates biosimilar effect on originator pricing, and Magellan Rx Management touts oncology biosimilars savings.

The Mississippi attorney general takes on major insulin producers and pharmacy benefit managers in a suit alleging a massive pricing scheme to gouge patients and payers.

The “winner-takes-all” tender process for biosimilar procurement in the European Union runs the risk of driving competitors out of the market, authors of a new survey contend.

Postmarketing retrospective studies of the rituximab biosimilar (CT-P10, Truxima) demonstrated comparable safety and efficacy for treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

In this column, officials from the Biosimilars Forum and Xcenda discuss how biosimilar competition has lowered prices of originator biologics and improved patient access.

The European Union makes it far more difficult to obtain patents on biologics, reducing the likelihood of patent “thickets” that stifle competition, the Matrix Global Advisors report states.

In part 1 of this panel discussion, 3 experts on India’s biologics industry explain what’s missing from current biosimilar regulation and what the country needs to do for its products to compete internationally.

Reverse switching occurs when patients transitioned to or initiated on a biosimilar are changed to an originator product, often because of a perceived failure in the biosimilar therapy.

Investigators noted a reduction in use of high-cost supportive care agents, suggesting that the value-based Oncology Care Model (OCM) is working.

Investigators further elucidate the equivalence of a trastuzumab biosimilar vs Herceptin in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive (HER2+) breast cancer.

When biosimilars emerged in oncology, oncologists dipped in a toe and then got serious, according to a retrospective study on usage and savings presented at ASCO 2021.

The substitution program was carried out in 2020 and yielded savings of $4 million in 1 month, investigators reported at ASCO 2021.

Investigators in the Netherlands observed that 13.7% of patients with rheumatic disease had switched back to etanercept originator at 4.4 years from baseline.

Biosimilar manufacturers may encounter roadblocks in the months and years ahead, and generics manufacturers will find they've hit a ceiling, according to Adam Fein, PhD, CEO of the Drug Channels Institute.

There is low insulin availability in the Philippines and investigators recommend policy and regulatory reviews.

Changes in federal and state policy can help liberate the savings potential in biosimilars and broaden investment in our health care system.

More transparency in how health care money is spent could improve utilization and efficiency, panelists said at the Medicines for Europe event.

Wider use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) biosimilars is recommended for patients at risk of febrile neutropenia (FN).

In part 1 of this interview, Cate Lockhart, executive director of the Biologics and Biosimilar Collective Intelligence Consortium, details some of her expectations for further growth of the US biosimilar market.