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Biosimilars adoption growing, but the market remains nascent

By Brian Buntz | July 7, 2021

Drug molecules

Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels

While biosimilar adoption remains at an early stage in the U.S., biosimilar adoption is ticking up. Biosimilar penetration for Roche’s Avastin (bevacizumab) is especially high at 69%. In addition, biosimilars for Genentech’s Herceptin and Amgen’s Neupogen have also achieved a market penetration of 57% and 62%, respectively, according to IQVIA data based on late June sales data.

One of the chief factors limiting the size of the biosimilars market, however, is the limited number of biosimilars on the market. While the Affordable Care Act included biosimilar provisions, only 33 biosimilars have won FDA approval since 2015. The agency approved ten of those in 2019.

The Biosimilars Council estimates that biosimilars could save the U.S. as much as $130 billion by 2025.

For now, however, overall adoption remains at a nascent stage. “Various factors have likely influenced biosimilar adoption, including physician and/or patient wariness about ‘sameness,’ aggressive contracting by innovators, unclear savings to providers/insurers, and lack of interchangeability, to name a few,” explained Truist analyst Gregg Gilbert in a recent briefing note.

U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) are vying to drive biosimilar adoption with a proposal known as the Increasing Access to Biosimilars Act. The plan would direct HHS to create a shared savings demonstration program for biosimilars within Medicare. The intended result would be expanded patient access to biosimilars and incentives for physicians to prescribe them to seniors.

The generic drug and specialty pharmaceuticals company Mylan (now Viatris) was a supporter of the proposal.


Filed Under: Drug Discovery
Tagged With: Amgen, Avastin, bevacizumab, Genentech, Herceptin, IQVIA, Neupogen, Roche, The Biosimilars Council
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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