Are biosimilars the next tool to guarantee cost-containment for pharmaceutical expenditures?

Cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab in metastatic breast cancer: Mainly a matter of price in the EU?

“…Since TR price/cost was an influential variable in the three studies that included a sensitivity analysis [23,24,26], we tried to estimate how a future TR price cut after patent expiry and biosimilars launch could affect base case results of the FEEs reviewed. Assuming 30% as a realistic price decrease [30], we applied it to the 2013 official prices of the three countries [5], then recalculated the base case results of the four studies (Table 2). TR would become cost-effective in the Norwegian study too by adopting the more favorable OS, and of course even more cost-effective in the remaining studies.…”

Supply-Side and Demand-Side Policies for Biosimilars: An Overview in 10 European Member States

“…Those measures, together with differences among therapeutic classes, may help to explain differences in biosimilar uptake reported across the EU MSs. Indeed, differences in biosimilar uptake have been shown between the different pharmacological classes; among the first three old biosimilar classes on the market (EPO, G-CSF, and hGH), uptake of somatropin biosimilar is generally lower, explained by the fact that somatropin is usually prescribed to children and used in the long term, whereas epoetin and filgrastim are used for shortterm treatment [117]. A recent analysis of biosimilar uptake, performed by IMS Health in 2015, showed differences in uptake between different therapeutic classes and EU MSs.…”

Western European markets for biosimilar and generic drugs: worth differentiating

“…Finally, because biologicals are often injected subcutaneously (e.g. somatropin and insulin glargine), delivery devices closely linked to a specific product can become a further hurdle undermining an easy switch to biosimilars [16].…”