Practice

Vial sharing for bevacizumab that would otherwise have been discarded yielded a 97.88% reduction in the total cost of a single year of intravitreal injections, as well as a 96.54% increase in the number of injections performed.

Sandoz’s biosimilar filgrastim was first approved in Europe in 2009 under the name Zarzio (later, the same drug was approved as Zarxio in the United States). Since that time, the number of biosimilars approved for use in the oncology field has grown substantially, and a recent review says that the past decade of experience with biosimilar filgrastim underscores the strong scientific basis for the extrapolation of indications for biosimilars.

A recent study says step therapy in rheumatoid (RA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) can hurt treatment outcomes.

While it is well understood that timely access to treatment is key for the management of rheumatic diseases, respondents to The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2019 Rheumatic Disease Patient Survey reported difficulty accessing and paying for their therapies in the past year.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of September 9, 2019.

Just last week, Sandoz indicated that it will commercialize a biosimilar of the multiple sclerosis (MS) drug natalizumab (Tysabri). This week, during the 35th meeting of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, held September 11-13 in Stockholm, Sweden, researchers will present data that help contextualize natalizumab’s place in the treatment paradigm for MS.

Patient organizations for those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are upset with the government of British Columbia for a plan to shift patients to biosimilars over the next 6 months.

For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), avoiding damage to cartilage and bone in the joints is a key consideration for treatment. While anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are used to treat RA and reduce joint destruction, the available anti-TNF agents, both originator and biosimilar, have not been directly compared with one another or with placebo in terms of their impacts on joint damage. A new study, published last week, attempted to address that gap in the literature by conducting a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

This week, British Columbia began the process of transitioning patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to biosimilars.

Recently, researchers reported on 7-year interim results from the STRIVE registry and said that the results show that most children are able to tolerate adalimumab plus methotrexate well.

As medicines become more numerous and often more expensive, healthcare professionals seek new ways to understand which treatments are most likely to yield the best outcomes at sustainable costs.

Treating macular edema associated with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) with aflibercept was noninferior to ranibizumab treatment at 100 weeks, while the results for bevacizumab versus ranibizumab were inconclusive.

A new paper published this month may help to allay some concerns that US providers may have about using FDA-approved biosimilar rituximab.

A Japanese postmarketing surveillance study of biosimilar infliximab CT-P13 (Inflectra, Remsima) concludes that the biosimilar and its reference, Remicade, are comparable in terms of efficacy and adverse drug reactions in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and that the biosimilar is a cost-efficient option that is interchangeable with the reference in real-world practice.

Early dose reductions in the adjuvant chemotherapy combination of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, and docetaxel negatively impacted survival rates for patients with intermediate- or high-risk breast cancer.

Administering the brand-name pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) via an on-body injection device (sold as Onpro) carries some risk of device failure, resulting in a missed or partial dose of pegfilgrastim. A recent cost simulation found that, when taking this failure into account, assured prophylaxis with biosimilar filgrastim offers the greatest cost efficiency.

A more compelling rationale for switching medications—particularly in light of “marginal” cost savings provided by biosimilars in the United States—is necessary, says the guideline.

“These results will fully usher the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL] into a new era,” said Tait Shanafelt, MD, professor of medicine at Stanford. “It seems likely that, in the future, these patients will be able to forego chemotherapy altogether.”

Researchers examining the mandatory switch of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the originator etanercept (Enbrel) to the biosimilar etanercept (Benepali) found no changes in overall healthcare utilization or cost of healthcare following the switch.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of August 12, 2019.

A recent article described a quality improvement project at the oncology specialty pharmacy unit within the University of Chicago Medicine.

Among the patients who viewed positively framed video explanations of biosimilars, 67% were willing to switch.

OneOncology, a national partnership of community oncology practices, says that its partner practices have begun treating patients with 2 anticancer biosimilars: Kanjinti, a trastuzumab biosimilar referencing Herceptin, and Mvasi, a bevacizumab biosimilar referencing Avastin.

Anti–tumor necrosis factor medicines are one of the costliest drugs for many health systems, and in the United Kingdom, a recent article described how one clinical commissioning group managed the switch of patients on the originator etanercept (Enbrel) to a biosimilar (Benepali) using a fixed-price model.

The retrospective analysis of practice care delivery measures at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center showed substantial time savings for both patients and the healthcare system, researchers report.

Samsung Bioepis’ etanercept biosimilar, SB4, has been available in multiple markets since it was authorized by the European Commission in 2016, and this week, a new systematic review reported on real-world evidence on the use of the biosimilar in treating inflammatory diseases.

Data continue to accrue on the use of biosimilar infliximab, CT-P13 (Inflectra, Remsima), in a variety of disease states, and a recent study among patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who were treated with the biosimilar demonstrated infrequent discontinuation of therapy.

A patient-level simulation model using real-world data from Finland evaluated the cost-effectiveness of abatacept, tocilizumab, and anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies as compared with rituximab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who received previous treatment with an anti-TNF agent.

The Center for Biosimilars® recaps the top stories for the week of July 15, 2019.

Patients with inflammatory diseases in the United States continue to wait for the availability of a biosimilar etanercept, despite the 2016 approval of Erelzi and the 2019 approval of Eticovo. However, in the European context, biosimilar etanercept is already available, and recently presented data demonstrate that, in some countries, use of the biosimilar is high and making an impact on healthcare costs.