Posted by Michael Wonder on 20 Jul 2019
Biosimilar drugs a boon to be applauded as they provide equivalent treatment at – sometimes – half the price
19 July 2019 - The fastest-growing segment of our health-care system is prescription drugs – now constituting the second-highest category of spending after hospitals and ahead of physician services.
The rapid growth of prescription-drug spending is not projected to stop any time soon, driven largely by innovative yet costly therapies, particularly biologic drugs -- those which are uniquely manufactured from biological sources or living organisms.
To keep drug plans sustainable, we at Green Shield Canada, along with other public (provincial health plan) and private (health insurer) payers, manage lists of drugs that are eligible for reimbursement. Each and every drug is evaluated on the basis of need, safety and effectiveness. Not every drug makes the cut – and each time a decision is made, the ramification of those decisions is heavily considered for both the patients and their employers.
