Pfizer Touts Lower WAC of 3 Oncology Biosimilars as It Launches Rituximab Product

Pfizer said Thursday it expects its 3 oncology biosimilar products to have the lowest wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) among currently available bevacizumab, rituximab, or trastuzumab biosimilars.

It said its biosimilar trastuzumab, Trazimera (referencing Herceptin), will launch February 15, and that its rituximab product, Ruxience (referencing Rituxan), launched today. Biosimilar bevacizumab Zirabev (referencing Avastin) became available last week.

Trazimera will have a WAC of $80.74 per 10 mg, a 22% discount to the WAC of Herceptin, and Ruxience has a WAC of $71.68 per 10 mg, or a 24% discount to the WAC of Rituxan. At $61.34 per 10 mg, Zirabev’s WAC is a 23% discount to the WAC of Avastin, the company has said.

The WAC of each treatment applies to all approved uses and is not inclusive of discounts to payers, providers, distributors, and other purchasing organizations. Pass-through status is being pursued for each.

“We’re proud to expand our leading biosimilars portfolio by launching these three treatments, which can potentially create significant savings for the U.S. healthcare system while increasing access to critical therapies,” said Angela Lukin, regional president, North America Oncology at Pfizer, in a statement. “We look forward to working with payers and providers to deliver these important medicines to patients that are living with certain cancers and autoimmune conditions."

Zirabev is approved for 5 types of cancer: metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer; recurrent glioblastoma; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; and persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. Pfizer said it intends to seek expansion to include the treatment of epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer as early as January 2021, pending regulatory approval.

Ruxience is available for the treatment of adult patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). It is the first licensed biosimilar for the treatment of GPA and MPA.

Trazimera is available for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-overexpressing breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.