News

Altering reimbursement procedures needs to become a bigger priority for government officials to incentivize biosimilar utilization, according to Eric Tichy, PharmD, MBA, vice chair of pharmacy formulary at the Mayo Clinic Health System.

The United Kingdom has approved Teva Pharmaceutical’s biosimilar (Ongavia) that references Lucentis (ranibizumab) for the treatment of several ophthalmic conditions.

Jeff Patton, MD, CEO and board member at OneOncology, dived into the controversial role that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play in formulary decision-making and how PBMs impact biosimilar utilization.

In a pharmacokinetic study, Alvotech’s ustekinumab biosimilar referencing Stelara was shown to have comparable safety and efficacy to the reference product, according to the company’s preliminary results.

After agreeing to settle with Amgen over its oncology biosimilars, Pfizer issued a new patent lawsuit against 5 companies over the development of Brenzys, an etanercept biosimilar, in Australia.

Julie M. Reed, the executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, discusses how biosimilar savings can differ between stakeholders and the importance of competition for creating those savings.

Posters from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)’s annual meeting examined the real-world patterns of biosimilar utilization and the impact of products that have been reclassified as biologics on Medicaid spending.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of May 9, 2022.

A new bill that would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act aims to expand FDA user fee programs for prescription drugs and medical devices, including biosimilars and generics.

Biocon’s total revenue for the fourth quarter of the 2022 fiscal year was up 21% from the same period in the prior year, largely due to significant growth in sales for the company’s biosimilar and generic drugs.

Amy Valley, vice president of clinical strategy and technology solutions at Cardinal Health, details the company's Decision Pathway, a health information technology (IT) tool that can assist practices with prescribing patients the lowest-cost product, including biosimilars.

Biosimilar manufacturers should consider working together to overcome some of the barriers that prevent biosimilars from entering the market and obtaining market share, according to Ivo Abraham, PhD, chief scientist of Matrix45 and a member of The Center for Biosimilars® Advisory Board.

Although the United States is looking to be one of the first countries to market an ophthalmology biosimilar, more education is needed to convince ophthalmologists of the safety and efficacy of biosimilars, said Cardinal Health's Sonia T. Oskouei, PharmD, BCMAS, DPLA.

Amgen’s earnings report for the first quarter of 2022 reveals that as some of its biosimilars experienced increased sales, its sales for reference products that are facing biosimilar competition decreased.

During the Coherus Biosciences earnings call, the company announced that it was terminating its licensing agreement with Innovent Biologics for Byvasda, a bevacizumab biosimilar candidate referencing Avastin.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of May 2, 2022.

A report on biosimilar uptake and existing policies signals that policy makers should proceed with caution when establishing new policies to boost biosimilar utilization and savings, as many patients and providers still have concerns on their usage.

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®.

The main takeaway from the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on HHS's 2023 budget was that biosimilars were not mentioned as much as they should have been, said Julie M. Reed of the Biosimilars Forum.

The United States is about to enter round 2 of biosimilar activity with a pipeline that expands biosimilars into new therapeutic areas, said Sonia Oskouei, PharmD, BCMAS, DPLA, vice president of biosimilars, Cardinal Health, during her presentation at Asembia’s Specialty Pharmacy Summit.

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.

Eric Tichy, PharmD, MBA, vice chair of pharmacy formulary at the Mayo Clinic Health System, discusses the importance of state legislation to boost biosimilar access and uptake.

New information on oncology biosimilars have sprouted during the month of April, including an FDA approval, study results from conferences, and data on pegfilgrastim biosimilar utilization and spending.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of April 25, 2022.

Now that the United States’ acceptance of biosimilars matches that in the European Union, developers should be encouraging changes to testing regulations to increase biosimilar accessibility, according to Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, in his recent perspective paper.

Jeffrey Casberg, vice president of pharmacy at IPD Analytics, discusses the Alvotech/AbbVie settlement for an adalimumab biosimilar and whether it will impact future patent lawsuits.

Although Roche’s earnings report for the first quarter of 2022 showed overall increases, products like Herceptin, Avastin, and Rituxan continue to lose revenue due to biosimilar competition.

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.

Posters from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)’s annual meeting highlighted the clinical similarity of a trastuzumab biosimilar compared with its reference product and real-world longitudinal application of infliximab biosimilars.

Here are the top 5 biosimilar articles for the week of April 18, 2022.