May 16th 2024
Two posters from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s annual meeting provided hope that despite low uptake so far, adalimumab biosimilars can deliver on the promise of comparable safety and efficacy with the originator in multiple disease states, as well as cost savings.
Risankizumab Outperforms Humira, Stelara in Treating Plaque Psoriasis
October 27th 2017As AbbVie’s best-selling Humira faces oncoming biosimilar competition, the drug maker is developing a new innovator product that could help it retain a hold on the market; new results from 3 phase 3 clinical trials show AbbVie’s investigational interleukin-23 inhibitor, risankizumab, to be more effective than adalimumab (Humira) or ustekinumab (Stelara) in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.
Study: Etanercept Reduces Healthcare Utilization for Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis
October 26th 2017Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have high healthcare utilization and high healthcare costs, which place a burden on health systems and patients alike. However, a recently published retrospective cohort study found that effective treatment for RA (namely, treatment with etanercept) may lead to lower overall and lower RA-related healthcare utilization.
Long-Term Data Support Switching From Reference Infliximab to SB2
October 21st 2017New data from an extension period of a phase 3 study of Samsung Bioepis’ SB2 (Renflexis) in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis found that there was no clinically meaningful difference in safety, efficacy, or immunogenicity in patients who were switched from reference infliximab to the biosimilar compared with patients who continued treatment with either the reference or the biosimilar without switching.
Study Reports 24% Discontinuation Rate After Switching From Remicade to Biosimilar CT-P13
October 19th 2017A Dutch study reports that 24% of patients who switched from originator infliximab to CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar, discontinued the biosimilar by their 6-month follow-up, mainly for reasons researchers termed “subjective” health complaints.
Biosimilars and the Nocebo Effect
October 18th 2017Switching patients from originator biologics to biosimilars is associated with the potential for a “nocebo” effect, a phenomenon that occurs when a patient’s negative expectation causes a treatment to have a more negative effect than it otherwise would—essentially, the opposite of the placebo effect.
Biosimilars Face Challenges From Providers, Patients, and Policies
October 13th 2017In recent paper published in Rheumatology, authors Till Uhlig, MD, and Guro L. Goll, PhD explore some of the remaining barriers to the adoption of biosimilar therapies in Europe. Physician attitudes, patient concerns, and prescribing restrictions on biologic therapies are all identified in the paper as having a role curbing uptake of biosimilars.
World Arthritis Day: Patients Benefit From Clinical Advances, Face Practical Challenges
October 12th 2017On this World Arthritis Day, patients with inflammatory diseases have increasing treatment options as biosimilars gain regulatory approval and become more widely available for use. New clinical data also help support the efficacy and safety of these therapies.
Doctors Oppose Step Therapy's Effect on Patients
October 11th 2017Insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers use step-therapy policies to require doctors to prescribe older, less expensive drugs first, which patients must fail to respond to adequately before they become eligible for newer, more expensive treatments.
Radiographic Progression Comparable in Patients Receiving Etanercept, Biosimilar
October 5th 2017A phase 3 study comparing Samsung Bioepis’ etanercept biosimilar, SB4, to its reference found that SB4 had comparable efficacy—including radiographic progression—to week 52 of treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
IL-6 Inhibitor Outperforms Anti-TNF Agents in Effectiveness, Drug Survival in Patients With RA
October 5th 2017A new study comparing the clinical effectiveness of anti–tumor necrosis factor agents and the interleukin-6 inhibitor tocilizumab (Acterma) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis found that tocilizumab outperformed anti-TNFs in terms of effectiveness and drug survival.
Healthcare Reform Efforts Turn to Drug Pricing
September 27th 2017Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act may have stalled once again with the failure of the Graham-Cassidy bill on Thursday, but advocacy groups intend to keep healthcare—and the high cost of prescription drugs—at the forefront of Congress’ agenda.
Canadian Study Finds High Adherence to Anti-TNF Agents in Inflammatory Diseases
September 26th 2017A large Canadian study of patients with inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, reports that a high overall rate of adherence to subcutaneous anti-TNFs.
New Challenges for Johnson and Johnson: Biosimilars Erode Remicade Sales, Sirukumab Receives CRL
September 25th 2017The FDA has issued a complete response letter (CRL) for Johnson and Johnson’s proposed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug, sirukumab. Janssen Biotech, a division of Johnson and Johnson, had filed a Biologics License Application (BLA) for the interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitor, including data from a global phase 3 clinical development program, in September 2016.
Sandoz Releases New Clinical Study Data for Adalimumab Biosimilar
September 25th 2017At the 26th Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology in Geneva, Switzerland, Sandoz announced positive data from a phase 3 confirmatory study to compare the efficacy and safety of Sandoz’s proposed biosimilar adalimumab, GP2017, with its reference.
Considerations for Switching Biologics in the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis
September 20th 2017When a patient fails to respond or no longer responds to one biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug due to a lack of efficacy or poor tolerability, switching to another bDMARD can be a safe and effective treatment strategy.
Rheumatology Expert Says Patients Should "Feel Comfortable" With Biosimilars
September 19th 2017This Rheumatic Disease Awareness Month, Stanley Cohen, MD, medical director of the Metroplex Clinical Research Center and clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, has a message for patients: biosimilar treatments are just as safe and effective as originator biologics in treating rheumatic diseases.