A Senate bill that seeks to establish a shared savings model to help increase access and encourage physician use of biosimilars was introduced.
Earlier this week, a pair of bipartisan senators introduced S 4134, a bill that aims to lower health care costs and increase access to biosimilars by instructing CMS to develop a shared savings model for biosimilars.
S 4134, the Increasing Access to Biosimilars Act of 2020, is co-sponsored by Senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, and was referred to the Committee on Finance.
“Seniors have been hit hard by skyrocketing costs for the prescription drugs they need....This legislation would encourage competition by promoting the use of biosimilars, which have a lower out-of-pocket cost but provide the same potentially lifesaving benefits," said Cornyn in a statement.
“Prescription drug costs have drastically increased in recent years, placing a major financial burden on seniors, minority communities, and millions of Americans living on fixed incomes who require their prescribed medication to live their life,” added Bennet. “This bipartisan legislation would share lower-cost biosimilars with patients, saving them and our health care system billions of dollars.”
Shared savings is a payment strategy that offers providers a percentage of any net savings realized to encourage them to reduce health care spending for a defined patient population.
The Biosimilars Forum, an advocate of the bill, said "as the coronavirus crisis continues to be an economic strain on the federal government and our health care system, this commonsense, cost-saving policy is a win-win for the government and U.S. taxpayers — providing significant health care cost savings across the system."
Biosimilar manufacturer Mylan also supports the new legislation.
The bill is a companion to HR 6179, which was introduced in Congress in March.
Another bill introduced in March was S 3466, which would allow $0 co-pays for seniors prescribed biosimilars under Medicare Part B.
S 3466 was introduced in the Senate by Sens Martha McSally, R-Arizona, and Doug Jones, D-Alabama, and would waive all out-of-pocket expenses for biosimilar products for beneficiaries of Medicare Part B programs. The waiver would apply for the first 5 years that a biosimilar is on the market. This Senate legislation has a companion bill that was introduced in the House in October 2019.
A poll released earlier this year said that Americans support the idea of shared savings, but the same poll noted that most Americans (65%) still do not know what biosimilars are.
Part 3: BioRationality—FDA Webinar on Biosimilars Efficacy Testing Marks Major Step Forward
September 20th 2023In the final part of a 3-part series, Sarfaraz K. Niazi, PhD, gives his take on the FDA's recent workshop dedicated to streamlining biosimilar development and his opinion on what the industry can learn from the webinar presenters.
Dr Fran Gregory Sizes Up the US Adalimumab Market: Will Biosimilars See Success?
September 17th 2023On this episode of Not So Different, Fran Gregory, PharmD, MBA, vice president of emerging therapies at Cardinal Health, analyzes the adalimumab market so far in the United States and provides insight into how the market needs to adapt to accept these products and ensure lower drug costs for patients.
Part 2: FDA Workshop Shares Manufacturer Perspective on the Value of Clinical Efficacy Testing
September 18th 2023Although removing the requirement for clinical efficacy testing for biosimilar approval would reduce development costs of biosimilars, representatives from several biosimilar manufacturers argued in the second day of the FDA’s development workshop that clinical outcomes will not be affected.
Biosimilars Business Roundup For August 2023—Podcast Edition
September 5th 2023On this episode, we’re giving an overview of some of the biggest stories in the business space regarding biosimilars, like the approval of the first neurology biosimilar, growth projections from company quarterly expense reports, and some analyses about the health of the market.
Part 1: FDA Workshop Highlights Global Regulatory View on Biosimilar Development
September 13th 2023An FDA workshop featuring regulators from around the world provided the regulatory perspective on how each government determines whether a biosimilar is clinically equivalent to their reference product, highlighting the science behind their development guidelines.
AAM Report: Generics and Biosimilars Generate $408 Billion in 2022
September 12th 2023A report from the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) highlighted the value of biosimilars and generics, revealing that lower-cost versions of originator products accumulated $408 billion for the US health care system in 2022.
2 Clarke Drive
Cranbury, NJ 08512