Biosimilars

Carina Dolan, PharmD, BCOP, senior director for Clinical Oncology and Pharmaceutical Outcomes at Vizient Inc, discusses the highlights and big picture moving forward for hospitals and health-system pharmacies.

Research shows that some unsuccessful switches from reference products to biosimilars may be attributed to patient perceptions of reduced efficacy and safety.

YLB113 (Nepexto) produced significantly lower injection site reactions and injection site erythema compared with etanercept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Big pharma companies have become more measured in their risk taking, with mergers and acquisitions gradually giving way to joint ventures and partnerships.

The subcutaneous formulation could enhance treatment options by providing high consistency in drug exposure and a convenient administration method.

Adalimumab-aacf (Idacio) is indicated for chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, psoriatic arthritis, hidradenitis suppurativa, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Getting payers on board will be key to national biosimilar cost-savings potential.

Three key opportunities for oncology stewardship are dose rounding, implementation of biosimilars, and management of sites of care.

Generic small molecule drugs take advantage of abbreviated approval pathways and have markedly lower development costs compared to their reference products.

Presenters at the AMCP Nexus conference explore outcomes data and whether these medications should be substituted for reference products more frequently.

Bevacizumab-adcd (Vegzelma) is indicated for the treatment of nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer; recurrent glioblastoma; metastatic colorectal cancer; persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; and epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.

The biosimilar matches Prolia in efficacy, immunogenicity, pharmacodynamics, and pharmacokinetics in women who are postmenopausal with osteoporosis.

The long-acting, once-daily hormone controls high blood sugar in individuals aged 1 year or older with diabetes.

Pharmacy Times spoke with Carina Dolan, PharmD, Editor in Chief of the Pharmacy Market Outlook, about the highlights and the big picture moving forward for hospitals and health systems.

The biosimilar is expected to be launched as a prefilled syringe in early 2023.

The 2022 Biosimilar Survey signaled that most pharmacists are willing to incorporate biosimilars into their formularies, but certain factors are preventing widespread adoption.

Paul Forsberg, PharmD, BCOP, MHA, director of Pharmacy Services at Minnesota Oncology discusses how pharmacists can remain on top of shifts in the nature of biosimilar payer benefit design.

Study evaluates efficacy, immunogenicity, safety of the product to eculizumab in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

As more biosimilars and specialty generics enter the market next year, this could result in a shift in drug spending.

Adalimumab-bwwd is a tumor necrosis factor blocker indicated for rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis, and plaque psoriasis.

Ranibizumab-eqrn is the only biosimilar approved for all 5 Lucentis indications.

FDA accepts supplemental Biologics License Application for Hyrimoz HCF, a biosimilar with the same indications as adalimumab (Humira).

From a patient perspective, the lack of awareness of biosimilars is the biggest barrier to adoption.

Indications for adalimumab include ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn disease, chronic plaque psoriasis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.

With the rapid pace of change in biosimilar payer benefit design, efforts to stay regularly updated on policy changes ahead of time become critical for patient care.

The treatment gives patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration a more affordable option, the companies say.

Biosimilar therapeutic interchange processes can mitigate high costs of cancer drugs.

Many health care systems are turning to biosimilars to provide clinical outcomes that are similar to those provided by reference products, but at a reduced cost.

Pegfilgrastim-pbbk is the third oncology biosimilar developed by Amneal to gain FDA approval this year.

Health systems must have a flexible workflow in place to allow the use of non-preferred agents to accommodate payer demands and reduce financial toxicity.