Dr Ryan Haumschild Compares Viewpoints on Biosimilar Value Between Stakeholders

Transcript

How has the economic value of oncology biosimilars changed over time and how do the economic benefits differ between stakeholders?

Haumschild: I think the economic values continue to grow. We've seen from our European colleagues that they've been able to uptake these medications sooner and really reduce cost. And I think that's what a lot of us are interested in—how do we preserve efficacy and reduce cost? So, I think the economic benefits can continue to grow.

But it is different depending on the different stakeholder. So, from our payer colleagues, they are looking at rebating and getting the total cost of care down on their end by larger rebates and preferencing therapy. Whereas, on the hospital side, we're also looking at uptake of biosimilars to reduce the cost of care and still provide efficacious options. I think it's going to be interesting, though, in the future as more agents come forward, and the rebating continues, and how does that degrade the average sales price for the health systems, where it still provides economic value, and it'll be more interesting of how it impacts reimbursement moving forward.

What utilization trends have you observed and what are your predictions for how the oncology biosimilar space will evolve going forward?

Haumschild: Utilization is continuing to grow. I think that's something that we're excited about. And as we see more therapies come into the market, I think people are starting to recognize that having an adoption strategy is important. I think with that adoption strategy, people are becoming smarter in the way that they're building out their electronic medical records, deciding to designate policies in order to provide a better uptake and faster uptake. And I think at the same time, as payer colleagues are to preference biosimilars, we see it to grow. So, that being said, I know we have a lot of market approvals coming up in the next few years. I personally am really excited, and I think this will, in turn, create larger utilization and cost savings across the country and actually reduce the amount of spend in the US directly related to biosimilars.