Mark Cziraky, PharmD, CLS: Payers' Decisions on Biosimilars

Transcript:

What is the role of health economics and outcomes research in a payer’s decision to potentially adopt a biosimilar?

I think, of course, health economics in outcomes research plays a huge role in these therapies. A lot of the benefits that are hopefully going to be seen from biosimilars are on the overall cost reductions that can be applied to the healthcare system through reduced costs of these therapies.

I think an important aspect here is taking a bit of a longer view in the use of these therapies. So again, as folks are looking at total cost of care, not just purely on the acquisition cost of the product, making sure the outcome is happening, the benefit is happening from the therapies. But clearly the reductions here with these agents are in the actual cost of the biosimilar and hopefully as more of these products enter the marketplace we’ll see more competition, and therefore we can see a better, bigger, cost-reduction in the therapies.

I think one of the challenges, of course now, in the market as well as is the fact and part of the reason why we’re just not seeing despite 10* of the therapies approved that we’re not seeing these therapies, more than 3 marketed, is there’s a lot of patent litigation going on. And there are also agreements between the manufactures, some pay-to-delay of these therapies to hit the market. So hopefully, as we can get past those issues and get more of these therapies available we’ll see the benefits in the marketplace.

*As of the date of filming