Posted by Michael Wonder on 21 Jan 2020
The biosimilar solution to expensive cancer care
20 January 2020 - In a recent column in Evidence-Based Oncology, Kathy Oubre, MS, chief operating officer of Pontchartrain Cancer Center in Louisiana, decried the refusal of many insurance payers to add oncology biosimilars to their drug formularies. The cost is steep, she claimed: Patient health is at stake.
The costs of cancer care today have far-reaching implications, with the effects of the high prices of biologic medications inserting themselves in all facets of patient life. Patients often do not fill critically needed prescriptions, bypass important diagnostic tests altogether, or fail to even make appointments to see their healthcare providers, Oubre pointed out. But there are solutions that enable easier access to care.
In May 2019, the FDA released its final guidance on biosimilars. These lower-cost alternatives are interchangeable to reference biologics because they “can be expected to produce the same clinical result as the reference product in any given patient.” And healthcare providers, and their patients, should have ready access to this more affordable treatment option.
