LAS VEGAS — The introduction of biosimilars has driven down the costs of originator biologics, but it isn’t clear whether those cost savings are being passed on to patients, or increasing access to the drugs, according to two new retrospective analyses that separately looked at private insurance and Medicare patients.
“It is interesting to see that biosimilar use is increasing in patients with Medicare insurance in the U.S. since introduction into the market. This shows that clinicians are getting more comfortable with their use in clinical practice,” said Sara Horst, MD, associate professor of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. That “is a continued important question in use, especially in the older population,” Dr Horst said at the poster session where the two studies were presented, at the annual Crohn’s & Colitis Congress®, a partnership of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and the American Gastroenterological Association.
One study examined Medicare part D participants. The researchers included infliximab prescriptions between 2013 and 2021, with a break in 2017 when biosimilars were first introduced. Between 2013 and 2017, there was a 93.7% annual increase in infliximab cost, and a 29.0% increase in annual claims. Between 2017 and 2021, those numbers declined to 23.9% and 12.1%, respectively. The researchers also examined trends by individual states and found a wide range of results. “Nationwide, it seems to be doing exactly what you’d expect, and I’d say it’s encouraging. This is exactly what you want with the introduction of biosimilars, and this is what you want for the patient population. But there are some states that have not really kept up with the rest of the country, and may need to look further into what types of trends are there,” said Modan Goldman, who presented the study. He is a medical student at Carle Illinois College of Medicine in Urbana, Illinois.
The other study looked at use of infliximab versus a biosimilar between 2015 and 2021 in 42,009 patients 64 or younger, drawing data from Merative Marketscan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database. They excluded government-funded insurance. Between January 2015 and December 2017, the cost of a vial of infliximab increased by $6.31 per month, reaching a maxim cost of $1,491 per vial. In January 2018, the cost decreased by $62 per vial, with a downward trend after that of $12.93 per vial per month.
“[Getting] access to these drugs, especially for pediatric IBD, has been an uphill battle with insurance companies and getting the medication and the doses we want,” said Samantha Paglinco, DO, who presented the Marketscan study.
The findings demonstrated clear cost reductions. “At the beginning of our period, infliximab originator Remicade was a little over $1,200 per vial, and at the end of our period of 2021, we expected it to be around $1,800 per vial. However, with the introduction of multiple infliximab biosimilars, we did see it come down to $800 per vial, which generated a savings of $1,000, which is pretty significant. We’re hoping that by generating overall cost savings to insurance companies, this will allow for greater access, because we know infliximab is such a good medication for pediatric IBD and for many other autoimmune conditions,” said Dr Paglinco, a pediatric GI fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The decrease in the cost of medication per vial in both the originator and biosimilar is an important finding in light of cost containment strategies, although Dr Horst pointed out that the study didn’t determine if there were any savings to patients. “That is what clinicians and patients care about the most. I worry that while these savings were seen at insurance and healthcare organizational levels, patients may not have experienced any cost savings, and this is something we need to consider in the future,” she said.
The FDA created the biosimilar regulatory pathway in 2010 in an effort to reduce costs. “And they have. The cost savings however, has not directly translated to the individual patient in their copays or necessarily in changes to access when prescribing. Nor has it allowed dose escalation more easily, which is frequently needed,” said David T. Rubin, MD, AGAF, who was asked for comment.
Although the changes in prescribing patterns may reflect cost savings to patients, there are some limits to this interpretation, according to Dr Rubin, of the University of Chicago. Payers are often the ones who determine a switch to biosimilar. The study also does not account for disease activity or phenotype, which can be an important confounder. Newer biologics that have come on to the market in recent years may also have affected the prescribing patterns for infliximab.
Nevertheless, an association between introduction of biosimilars and declining cost in the originator product (Remicade) is welcome, according to Dr Rubin. “This is nice to see and we have seen it in our practices,” he said.
Unfortunately, “it has also not been seen to translate into reduced costs for patients nor has it been associated with increased access or changes in payer policies to allow these drugs to be used, or dose escalations to occur,” Dr Rubin added.
Dr Paglinco and Mr Goldman have no relevant financial disclosures. Dr Horst has consulted for Janssen, Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Abbvie. Dr Rubin has received grant support from Takeda and has consulted for Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Lilly, Pfizer, and Takeda.
This article originally appeared on MDedge.com, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
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