Skylar Jeremias

For the first time, Skyrizi has replaced Humira as AbbVie’s sales driver, largely due to companies encouraging “product hopping” to avoid competition, creating concerns for the sustainability of the burgeoning adalimumab biosimilar market.

Alvotech’s Selarsdi (ustekinumab-aekn), a biosimilar referencing Stelara (ustekinumab), gained FDA approval, making it the second ustekinumab biosimilar and second for the company to be given the green light for the American market.

IQVIA’s most recent Global Use of Medicines report projected that market introductions of new biosimilar and generic drugs will increase projected losses for originator products from $111 billion to $192 billion over the next five years.

Less flexible plans, such as health maintenance organizations, are more likely to use biosimilar therapies than more flexible plans.

Although biosimilars have already generated savings for Medicare Part B programs and beneficiaries, opportunities for substantial reductions in spending remain, according to a report from the HHS.

A poster from AMCP Nexus quantified tends in biosimilar coverage within Tufts Medical Center, finding that payer coverage of these products has increased but individual preferences among payers still varies.

This abstract at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2023) looked at the growing utilization of trastuzumab biosimilars over time in India.

The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) published a white paper on the impact that ongoing drug shortages have had on the generic and biosimilar industries, as well as possible solutions stakeholders can put into action.

But payers may be putting undue emphasis on interchangeability, said a panelist at session on biosimilars at the 2023 Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit.