ASCO20 Virtual Biosimilars Roundup

Transcript

Hi, I’m Skylar Jeremias for The Center for Biosimilars®, your resource for clinical, regulatory, business, and policy news in the rapidly changing world of biosimilars.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology held its annual meeting, ASCO20 Virtual, from May 29 through May 31. The meeting was conducted on a digital platform because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and featured a number of study findings and presentations on the importance and potential impact of oncology biosimilars.

The following is a summary of our biosimilar coverage from this event:

A study presented during the conference demonstrated the power of biosimilar pegfilgrastim to lower costs in the Oncology Care Model (OCM), where pegfilgrastim expense amounts to 5.3% of the total cost of cancer care.

Prestige BioPharma of Singapore has successful clinical trials to support its bid to market a trastuzumab biosimilar candidate (HD201, Tuznue), based on findings presented at ASCO20 Virtual.

A study presented during the conference revealed that oncologists are less likely to prescribe biosimilars if there is potential for their practices to lose money or control over the preferred medication.

Another study showed very high recognition and knowledge of biosimilars among oncologists in Brazil, where biosimilars could make a difference, and noted utilization barriers that could be overcome with education.

The idea that “resources affect who lives and dies” is cringeworthy, but this is a very real phenomenon that reveals itself in multiple ways throughout the US cancer treatment system, said Devika Das, MBBS, who reviewed the evidence presented at ASCO20 Virtual, and concluded that some deep reforms are needed in oncology care to improve access.

Cancer drug prices are rising in the United States and Europe, however European regulators allow for negotiating of drug prices unlike the US, and the results are seen in pricing trends, investigators said in a conference presentation.

A study revealed that the rituximab biosimilar candidate ABP 798 met primary and secondary end points for safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity and was similar to that of the reference product (Rituxan in the United States and MabThera in the European Union).

When used as a primary prophylaxis, biosimilar filgrastim (Zarxio) was found to be cost-effective when used to treat patients with nonmetastatic non—small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study presented at the conference.

Investigators found that switching patients with cancer from reference pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) to biosimilar pegfilgrastim (Udenyca) not only reduces the cost of prophylaxis treatment for chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia (FN) but also provides funds for adjuvant treatment.

A real-world study of patients with breast cancer who received febrile neutropenia prophylaxis with biosimilar pegfilgrastim (Udenyca) or reference pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) has not only demonstrated comparable efficacy between the 2 products but also shown that large-scale comparisons of this nature can be done.

To read all of these articles and more visit centerforbiosimilars.com.