Sheila Frame Discusses Biosimilar Policy Developments and Market Impact

Sheila Frame is the vice president of marketing, market access, and patient services at Sandoz.

Transcript:

How do you think policy changes will affect the biosimilar market?

The great thing about the policy environment in the United States today is, finally, people are realizing that the current US system is not sustainable. Biosimilars offer such an obvious opportunity for immediate savingd that not only will help save the system, but also will improve access and certainly improve patient care. So, some of the policies that we're putting forward through the Biosimilars Forum relate to the experience that we've had in Europe and in Canada and in other countries, where you know that if you encourage incentives in the system, physicians and patients will adopt biosimilars much more quickly. We also know that most of the hospitals in the [Medicare] Part B space and in the medical benefits space really are trying to push quality and improve quality. So, quality star ratings in the United States, if these organizations adopt biosimilars quickly, should be given great credit. It's probably the one item that achieves complete bipartisan support in the United States. We've got 5 bills in front of Congress in the Senate right now that will definitely spur and encourage biosimilars. And finally, the balance and the opportunity that biosimilars create, to make space in the system for those important innovations that are coming through that are leading to cures in many of these areas. So, those are the policy areas that we're really advancing now, and I feel very confident and optimistic that we're going to see some movement in this regard this year.