Alex Brill was one of the panelists discussing his “commitment to expand biosimilar use in the United States and how physicians and government officials are looking to help.
“A new report from Matrix Global Advisors and the National Business Group on Health, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, shows that employers could see substantial savings from biosimilars, but those savings won’t come without a concerted effort to encourage biosimilar use.”
This paper estimates the savings opportunity from biosimilars in the medical benefit of a large employer-sponsored health plan, using real-world claims data. This analysis illustrates the savings potential of biosimilars in the commercial market and highlights the important role of employer-sponsored plans in promoting biosimilar utilization.
“Peter B. Bach, MD, a well-known critic of high drug prices, along with Jennifer A. Ohn, MPH, Preston Atteberry, MD, and Mark Trusheim, MSc, first wrote in April that biosimilar competition is an economically inefficient way to achieve the goal of lower prices; the biosimilar environment is different than the one that exists in the generic marketplace for small-molecule drugs. These authors said, instead, that biosimilars are natural monopolies and as such need price regulation in order for them to succeed and for prices to come down.”
“Would legislators take the opportunity to redo some parts of the BPCIA, if they had the chance? Both [Alex] Brill and Hayes said while that, too, is theoretically possible—such as shortening the period of patent exclusivity or changing other aspects of the patent dance—the danger is that it would then get stuck in the quagmire of politics.”
