Practice

Despite improvements in biosimilar education efforts for future health care professionals, payer policies need a major revamp to ensure that biosimilar use is encouraged, according to Pfizer's Mike Gladstone.

Biosimilars provide significant savings and encourages competition in the biopharmaceutical marketplace but the United States needs to do more to empower uptake and address adoption barriers, according to Robert Popovian PharmD, MS.

An analysis of real-world dosing and effectiveness of pegfilgrastim biosimilars found the clinical benefits of preventing febrile neutropenia in patients with intermediate to high risk come at acceptable financial costs compared with filgrastim biosimilars.

Edward Arrowsmith, MD, discussed his recent paper on the use of clinical pathways for specific cancer types and how biosimilar development can help ensure quality of care for patients with limited therapeutic options.

Chelsee Jensen, PharmD, and Eric Tichy, PharmD, MBA, who coauthored a paper on the Mayo Clinic's success with implementing biosimilars, discuss their study and how their practice is expected to evolve to improve its approach.

Jeffrey Casberg, vice president of pharmacy at IPD Analytics, previews his sessions about the new and emerging pharmaceutical products coming down the pipeline at the upcoming Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) annual meeting.

Kathy Oubre, MS, chief executive officer of Pontchartrain Cancer Center, explains the progress she has seen regarding biosimilar utilization and acceptance.

Pfizer’s trastuzumab biosimilar (trastuzumab-qyyp; Trazimera) was stable and efficacious under conditions of extended use in patients with breast cancer, investigators concluded.

Civica Rx will collaborate with companies to manufacture and distribute 3 insulin biosimilars and will offer them at an affordable price to uninsured and underinsured patients.

Kathy Oubre, MS, chief operating officer of Pontchartrain Cancer Center, explains how biosimilars are helping to rid clinicians of their worries about the affordability of biologic drugs.

Switching patients with Crohn disease from reference adalimumab to SB5, a Samsung Bioepis biosimilar, did not lead to major changes in disease activity in a real-world analysis.

A report from the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions detailed the common concerns employers have regarding implementing biosimilars within their health care plans and outlined how they could take charge and make a difference.

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.

Improving access and getting big legislative changes for biosimilars passed are just some of the many plans that Julie M. Reed, the new executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, has for the organization.

US biosimilar uptake faces several barriers, including misconceptions regarding biosimilar efficacy and a misalignment of prescription incentives between payers, providers, and patients, panelists discussed.

As chief science policy officer for Global Healthy Living Foundation, Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS, has a bird’s-eye view of some of the central issues of biosimilar access in the United States.

Biobetters may gain an edge on reference products, and multiple biosimilars are under development for ophthalmic disorders, the authors write.

Steven Yates, MD, an oncologist and medical director at Intermountain Healthcare, discusses problems underlying the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The utilization rates for biosimilars in community oncology have been much higher than for other disease categories and are only expected to rise, says Steven Yates, MD.

Steven Yates, MD, explains how the relationships that nurses have with patients can influence biosimilar acceptance.

Reimbursement concerns and the uncertainty of how interchangeability will impact biosimilar adoption are hot-button issues in the biosimilar space, Cate Lockhart, PharmD, PhD, MS, explains in this interview.

Ivo Abraham, PhD, a professor with University of Arizona Health Sciences in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, outlines the current trajectory and savings potential for granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) biosimilars and Neulasta Onpro (pegfilgrastim).

Kirollos Hanna, PharmD, from the University of Minnesota Medical Center, explains how his practice has worked to inform patients and providers about biosimilars and improve their confidence in the utilization of biosimilars.

Kirollos Hanna, PharmD, from the University of Minnesota Medical Center, talks about the savings that biosimilars have brought to his practice and how he tackles patient and physician concerns over whether biosimilars work as well as reference products.

Sonia T. Oskouei, PharmD, BCMAS, DPLA, the vice president of Biosimilars at Cardinal Health, discussed the many ways that pharmacists and interchangeability designations can affect biosimilar utilization.

The findings support Alvotech's bid for interchangeable status for the high-concentration, citrate-free adalimumab biosimilar candidate.

Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, an oncologist and hematologist, discusses how biosimilar placement on formularies affects physicians' willingness to prescribe these agents.

Gary Lyman, MD, MPH, an oncologist and hematologist, discusses some of the issues holding physicians back from prescribing biosimilars and some ways to ensure provider confidence in biosimilars.

Health care systems need to consistently reevaluate whether the biosimilars they utilize are the most cost-effective, Neal Dave, PharmD, the executive director of pharmacy at Texas Oncology, explains.

A supply chain shortage of Avastin (bevacizumab) is prompting policies for use of bevacizumab biosimilars instead, which the American Academy of Ophthalmology says could lead to problems.