Policy

Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, explains the FDA's changes to the drug review process, the significance of each change, and the published pieces of work that helped inform the FDA's decisions.

IQVIA’s Global Use of Medicines Report for 2023 has revealed increased uptake of biosimilars around the world and predicted that biosimilars could generate nearly $300 billion in savings by 2027.

A new report from HHS has revealed that if the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) had been implemented in 2020, Medicare Part D beneficiaries could have saved a total of $734 million, averaging out to about $500 per member.

Sophia Z. Humphreys, PharmD, MHA, BCBBS, of Sutter Health in Sacramento, California, details the regulatory decisions from 2022, what's to come in 2023, and how the US biosimilars market is expected to shift over the next 5 years.

Patent litigators from Fish & Richardson, an intellectual property law firm, regaled audiences during a webinar covering all the big biosimilar regulatory and legal decisions throughout 2022, including updates on patent disputes and antitrust investigations.

A study assessing uptake rates and prices of biosimilars found that while the United States had significantly higher prices, the uptake in Germany and Switzerland, 2 European countries with national mechanisms for drug price negotiation, was slower.

Chelsee Jensen, PharmD, pharmaceutical formulary manager at the Mayo Clinic, explains what health organizations and health systems can do to better manage and instill confidence in biosimilars.

Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, summarizes some of the lessons that the entire biosimilar industry can take away from 2022, including what new legislation and policy changes could mean for future biosimilar development.

Ian Henshaw, senior vice president and global head of biosimilars at Biogen, shares his thoughts on whether clinical efficacy and switching studies to establish biosimilar safety are necessary, a hotly debated topic in the biosimilars industry.

Over 2 years after a cabinet vote to establish a biosimilar switching policy, the Ontario government is putting one in place, making it the seventh province and eighth jurisdiction in Canada to do so.

In his newest column, Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, looks into the domestic and international support for removing interchangeability for biosimilars in the United States.

The Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA) is launching a new program for health care professionals to become Board Certified Biologics and Biosimilars Specialists.

Now that the world population has reached 8 billion, Ivo Abraham, PhD, chief scientist of Matrix45 and a professor at the University of Arizona, took a look at how high-income countries can increase accessibility to livesaving medicines to the 7 billion people who have limited access to biosimilars.

The VOLTAIRE-X randomized controlled trial determined the adalimumab biosimilar BI 695501 (adalimumab-adbm, Cyltezo; Boehringer Ingelheim) met the FDA’s criteria to be designated as interchangeable with the reference product (Humira).

The FDA has granted Eli Lilly’s long-acting insulin glargine biosimilar, Rezvoglar, an interchangeability designation, making it the second interchangeable insulin biosimilar in the United States.

The Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act will seek to increase patient access to biosimilars by reducing switching study requirements for companies to obtain interchangeability designations.

Technology utilizing electronic medical records pathways can be useful for practices struggling to manage multiple biosimilars for the same reference product, according to Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, from Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute.

Organon Canada launches 2 biosimilars referencing Avastin (bevacizumab) and Herceptin (trastuzumab), China became the first country to approve a denosumab biosimilar, and Optum Rx, a large pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), said that it will add adalimumab biosimilars to formulary.

Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, from Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, describes how local health policy initiatives can help providers and patients feel more comfortable with the idea of interchangeable biosimilars.

If every adalimumab biosimilar had an interchangeability designation, the United States could save additional $765 million annually, according to calculations from 3 biosimilar experts.

Craig Burton, senior vice president of policy and strategic alliances at the Association for Accessible Medicines and executive director of the Biosimilars Council, gives insight into the many health policies that the Biden administration has implemented in 2022 as well as their possible impact on biosimilar adoption.

Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, dived into the benefits of the FDA's recently announced Biosimilar Regulatory Science Program, which is expected to help progress biosimilar development and simplify evaluations for interchangeability status.

October ushered in a number of policy updates, including the implementation of a biosimilars switching policy, the European Union declaration of biosimilars as interchangeable, and the reauthorization of the Biosimilars User Fee Act.

Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, from Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, offers advice to health systems on how they can incorporate some of Emory Healthcare's strategies to promote biosimilar uptake.

Saskatchewan joined 5 provinces and 1 territory in implementing a biosimilar switching policy, allowing for reference products to be switched out for biosimilars and lowering drug costs for the province’s public health plan.

After months of pressure and calls for action, President Biden reauthorized the Biosimilar User Fee Act, which will allow the FDA to assess and collect fees for biosimilars for the next 5 years.

Amgen’s ninth edition of its Biosimilar Trends Report explores the evolution of the US biosimilar industry, including current trends, predictions for the next few years, advice for stakeholders going forward, and insight into how reimbursement and other policies could develop.

Biosimilars Canada, a national association representing the Canadian biosimilar industry, held a press conference calling on Ontario, the province containing the nation’s capital, to institute a biosimilars switching policy.

Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, from Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, explains how stakeholders may view the economic value of biosimilars differently based on their goals and his predictions for how biosimilar utilization will develop in the future.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, there is a 5-year temporary increase in the add-on payment for qualifying biosimilars whose average sales price (ASP) is not more than the price of the reference product.