Practice

Jeenal Patel, PharmD, BCGP, a formulary manager for WellDyne, said pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and employers are increasingly turning to formulary exclusions to control the rising cost of drugs.

Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put a burden on the economy and the healthcare system in particular, Kashyap Patel, MD, believes that the crisis will likely speed up biosimilar uptake in the United States.

Posters presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) eLearning Days meeting this week from April 20 to 24 reveal important data on biosimilar utilization management, switching, and affordability.

A panel of experts discusses the rising class of biological agents and why clinical pharmacists need to deepen their knowledge.

Patients in an Australian clinic were generally open to using biosimilars but knew little about them, according to a recent study.

A percentage of oncology pharmacy practitioners report their guidance on biosimilars is influential with clinicians, but many feel their knowledge of biosimilars is deficient in a number of important areas.

In partnership with Samsung Bioepis, Merck has launched the trastuzumab biosimilar Ontruzant, which marks the fifth trastuzumab biosimilar available on the US market.

The Boston Medical Center Health System (BMCHS) of Massachusetts was able to achieve high adoption rates for biosimilars based on experience with a “nonbiosimilar.”

Surya Singh, MD discusses how education efforts have reduced providers’ doubts surrounding the similarity between biosimilars and their reference products at the March 2020 FDA/Federal Trade Commission workshop on anticompetitive practices.

The introduction of biosimilars as anticancer therapies was preceded by a period of supportive care biosimilars. Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, describes how he and other clinicians decide which of these agents to use.

Cancer treatments can lead to unpredictable adverse events, so a COVID-19–related measure allowing home infusion jeopardizes patient health and safety, according to the Community Oncology Alliance (COA).

The Danish medical system saved 82.8% on adalimumab by switching almost all patients from the reference product to biosimilars, but such a benefit for the US healthcare system may not be possible, according to a new study.

Oncologist/hematologist Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, describes some important considerations for using biosimilars in clinical practice.

Biosimilar companies may do themselves a disservice if they produce education materials that don’t address the needs of clinicians or blatently self-promote, according to Kathy Oubre, chief operations officer at Pontchartrain Cancer Center of Louisiana.

There are multiple distinctions in labeling indications between biosimilars and brand products, and pharmacists must become familiar with these to be of maximum service to patients and physicians, according to a review.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines may help get biosimilars into circulation because the NCCN will recommend them for off-label uses.

In inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), biosimilars have been available for roughly 5 years, but more evidence may be necessary to persuade medical community to increase usage, according to a study.

Canadian provinces encounter opposition in their move to implement forced switching of patients from reference products to biosimilars.

When providers get used to biosimilars, they tend to prescribe them exclusively, according to a study in The American Journal of Managed Care.

A gentle, persuasive effort to get patients and physicians to adopt biosimilars is likely to work better than a heavy-handed approach, say Canadian investigators, who recommend more study of how mindsets and prescribing practices are changed.

Kashyap B. Patel, MD, has worn many hats in the struggle to broaden biosimilar access. He is an independent oncology practitioner, a member of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), and a representative of International Oncology Network (ION) Solutions, a large drug purchasing organization. Bringing biosimilars to a broader population of patients has involved negotiations with payers, persistence on Capitol Hill, and education, he explains in an interview.

The use of low-dose methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis dates back more than 30 years, but despite these decades of clinical use, data on adverse effects have come mostly from observational studies rather than randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the authors say.

A recent year-in-review article outlines studies published in 2019 about nonmedical switching from originator biologics to biosimilars in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis.

The study aimed to provide insight into the real-world patterns of biosimilar initiation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Korea by identifying patient characteristics and other factors associated with starting biosimilars using a logistic regression model.

Reference pricing may shift the mix of drugs dispensed from those offering the highest rebates to pharmacy benefit managers to those offering the lowest prices to employers and employees, according to a new study published Wednesday.

Researchers reviewed randomized controlled trials and real-world evidence studies on nonmedical switching; that is, switching patients who are doing well on their current originator therapy to a biosimilar.

The biosimilar CPT-13 (Remsima) is currently approved in Europe for all uses for which the originator infliximab (Remicade) is approved, including Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), which are often referred to collectively as IBD.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of January 6.

It is the first adalimumab biosimilar approved by the China National Medical Products Administration.

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.