A Key Ingredient to Biosimilar Adoption: Communicate and a Date-Certain, 'Hard Transition' to the Biosimilar | PBMI 2025

Some pharmacy benefit managers have hesitated about giving biosimilars preference on their formularies. Cody Olsen, Pharm.D., says Scripius is all in on them.

"At Scripius, we realize the value in biosimilars," even after taking into account the rebates on the brand-name reference products, Olsen said during an interview last week at the 2025 Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute Annual National Conference in Orlando, Florida. Olsen is director of pharmacy PBM formularies for Scripius, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) owned and operated by the Intermountain Health health system in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a panelist at a session of the meeting about managing the cost and access of drugs used to treat autoimmune disease.

Olsen said that Scripius' strategies for biosimilars include setting a date for a "hard transition" to biosimilars and then communicating extensively with members and providers about the change. Olsen said PBM also works with its specialty pharmacy to "pull through" the change to biosimilars.

Olsen said there will be exceptions to the change to biosimilars and that Scripius will consider whether a member needs to stay on the branded reference product for a reason. "But otherwise, it is just rolled out."