What AmerisourceBergen's Report Reveals About Payers, Biosimilar Pricing Trends

Drug maker payments to ophthalmologists were associated with the choice of higher-cost therapies for age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) that could increase Medicare, but biosimilars could help.

On 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.

The European Commission approved the first aflibercept biosimilar, which will be used to treat patients with age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.

On 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.

A study evaluating the real-world impact of treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with an adalimumab biosimilar found that providing patient questionnaires early can be useful for identifying those at a higher risk of treatment discontinuation.

Although 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.