In the last few weeks, we’ve seen a hail of
biosimilars-related news, some of which significant, more having limited
impact.
Building upon the success of its infliximab biosimilar uptake, Magellan Rx Management announced June 4 that it will extend its medical pharmacy program to the new oncology biosimilars (i.e., rituximab, trastuzumab, and bevacizumab) when launched. Magellan Rx had announced that its program saved 34% when it shifted utilization to infliximab biosimilars. This action was announced after UnitedHealthcare decided that it would prefer the reference biologic agents rather than the biosimilars starting in July, which caused much reaction.
In early May, the Food and Drug Administration (finally!)
released its final guidance on interchangeability. Although
there were no surprises in this document, it does lay out a definitive path for
gaining an interchangeable designation. Other than Boehringer Ingelheim’s
intention to seek the label for Cytelzo®, no other biosimilar
manufacturer has publicly stated interchangeability as a goal. Boehringer
cannot launch its biosimilar adalimumab, regardless of its interchangeability
status until June 2023, so the strategic importance may be longer term. Switching
biosimilars (for a reference product or for another biosimilar, with or
without this designation) may be a more pressing question.
The Biosimilars Forum has launched an educational campaign on how aligning incentives in Medicare part B can save billions of dollars through the enhanced use of biosimilars. The industry group’s proposal includes using a shared savings model in which providers can receive savings bonuses when using lower-cost biosimilars. In addition, it is lobbying to increase provider reimbursement for prescribing biosimilars. This would be in the form of a greater percentage add-on rate in addition to the average sales price (ASP) paid for the therapy. These two actions could offset the current reimbursement disincentive, where providers bill higher amounts for prescribing higher cost (and likely higher rebate) drugs, currently at ASP + 6%. The organizations also call on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce patient out-of-pocket costs when a Part B biosimilar is used.
The Association of Affordable Medicines has also been focused on the issue of biosimilars in Part B medications, as well as on the potential implications of the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement. Passage of the agreement (still awaiting ratification on Capitol Hill) could have the unintended consequence of extending exclusivity for reference biologics; all other federal regulatory efforts are moving towards cutting delays in access to lower-cost biologics. The trade agreement therefore negatively affects the biosimilar industry, which frankly, cannot survive additional barriers erected in its path. The Association is hoping that harmonizing Mexico’s, Canada’s, and America’s biologic exclusivity period can be modified before the treaty is ratified.
We previously reported that Momenta Pharmaceuticals reevaluated its biopharmaceutical strategy going forward, deciding to move forward only with its investigational adalimumab and aflibercept biosimilars. Yesterday, Momenta announced that it has joined the long queue of pharmaceutical manufacturers signing a biosimilar licensing deal with Abbvie, which will allow commercialization of M923, its biosimilar to Humira, should it obtain regulatory approval. Momenta’s licensing deal is the fifth one signed by prospective biosimilar marketers in the US.
This agreement was pretty much a no-brainer for Momenta. The company did not have the stomach for attempting either an extended patent fight or an at-risk launch. However, the biosimilar licensing agreement only allows Momenta to market its adalimumab biosimilar in the US after December 2023, which will make it the fifth Humira biosimilar that will launch under the licensing agreements (Table). The main patents for Humira have expired in Europe, and these agreements have generally allowed the European launches to occur as of October 16 of this year.
Of the manufacturers signing biosimilar licensing deals with Abbvie , only Amgen and Sandoz have earned FDA approval for Amjevita® and Hyrimoz®, respectively. And Boehringer Ingelheim is still duking out patent litigation with Abbvie in the courts over its approved biosimilar agent Cytelzo®, for which it hopes to receive an interchangeability designation. The second through fifth agents entering the fight will be likely pounding away at subsequently smaller slices of revenue.
Perhaps the most frustrating part is that Abbvie is running a lucrative game; it will collect royalties from all of these manufacturers in 2023 and beyond, which will help offset declining marketshare from its biggest revenue contributor.
In Abbvie’s Web: Who Has Signed Licensing Agreements for Biosimilar Adalimumab?
Company/Partner
Drug Name
Launch Date
Amgen
Amjevita*
January 2023
Samsung Bioepis/Merck
SB5
June 2023
Mylan/Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin Biologics
Hulio
August 2023
Sandoz
Hyrimoz*
September 2023
Momenta
M923
December 2023
*Received FDA Approval.
Note: This post was revised and corrected, November 8, 2018.
In the first portion of a two-part interview with Molly Burich, MS, Director, Public Policy: Biosimilars and Pipeline, Boehringer Ingelheim, we cover the challenges of driving biosimilar uptake, as well as the unique situation that has focused this manufacturer’s attention on biosimilars and interchangeability.
BR&R: The viability of the US biosimilar industry is being challenged if companies cannot rely on revenue from switching, especially for the autoimmune category.
Molly Burich, MS
Molly Burich: Yes, biosimilar uptake is certainly going to be dependent on switching. But switching comes in a few different types. One case involves patients who are going to be switched to a therapy with a different mechanism of action. Perhaps their existing therapy no longer works (or didn’t work in the first place).
Another case is medication substitution by the physician. The doctor drives that decision to switch the patient either to a biosimilar or to an interchangeable.
Lastly is automatic substitution, which will come as a result of interchangeability and enabled by state laws. However, that is only in play once a product gains the interchangeability designation.
All of those are important components, but certainly switching overall is an important part of the market viability.
BR&R: When we’re talking about automatic switching, multiple stakeholders are involved, including the prescribers, pharmacies, payers, patients. And none of it matters if we don’t have an interchangeable product or even final guidelines from the FDA on interchangeability. In retrospect, should we have made automatic switching for biosimilars based on something other than interchangeability?
Burich: There are a lot of stakeholders involved and this is. why multiple ways of switching will likely occur. In terms of switching, interchangeability allows pharmacists to switch one reference product prescription for an interchangeable one without intervention of the physician at the front end—pending state laws of course. The physician must be notified of the change.
In our opinion though, automatic switching is certainly not the only way to drive uptake of biosimilars. We believe physician-driven switching and payer-drive substitution via formulary decision-making are very important to drive the uptake of biosimilars.
BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM’S SINGULAR PRODUCT FOCUS
BR&R: Biosimilar utilization, and the overall market, has been growing slowly since the first biosimilar approval. Prospective biosimilar manufacturers have tended to jump into the market with both feet, filling their pipelines with multiple biosimilar agents. Boehringer Ingelheim may be the only major manufacturer with a single biosimilar listed on its pipeline web page. Is the company in a wait-and-see mode, to see if the industry will survive? Or is Boehringer making further investments in biosimilar development behind the scenes?
Burich: We are constantly in an evaluation process of our portfolio. Obviously, we are focused on our approved biosimilar Cyltezo® (adalimumab-adbm) and also on interchangeability, here in the U.S. That is our focus area. We believe that the introduction of biosimilars will improve the lives of patients, as well as contribute to the quality and economic sustainability of healthcare systems.
INTERCHANGEABILITY: MISUNDERSTOOD BUT NO SILVER BULLET
BR&R: The issues around interchangeability are particularly frustrating. At the time the BPCIA was written, was the concept of interchangeability (which does not exist in EMA regulations) an attempt to give prescribers and consumers a warm and fuzzy feeling of an AB-rated generic?
Burich: It’s an important question. As you said, when the BPCIA was written, interchangeability was viewed as a sort of silver bullet. The reality is that interchangeability is an important concept, but perhaps it makes more sense for only certain products. As we gain experience in the biosimilar market, we’re starting to see this.
We believe in the concept of interchangeability and in what the FDA has put forth about interchangeability. We do think there are questions about how an interchangeable product may be perceived compared with one that is not interchangeable. In our comments to the FDA, we encouraged the FDA to come out with educational materials that are geared toward talking about interchangeability, and talking about switching. These are all important questions and need to be addressed for the broad stakeholder community. The FDA is obviously best positioned to bring that type of education in the next round of materials they develop.
BR&R: We’ve heard a great deal about people mischaracterizing interchangeable products as being superior to biosimilars (for the same reference product). Why is this differentiation so important?
Burich: This issue speaks to education. All people engaging in the biosimilar space must realize that the designation of interchangeability does not mean it’s a higher-quality, safer, or more-efficacious product. It means that the manufacturer has conducted additional studies required by the FDA to enable that automatic substitution at the pharmacy level.
The FDA has issued clarifying pieces of information and education on their website about this, but there is room for more. The reality is that when a drug is approved as a biosimilar, it has attained the foundational designation proving that the drug is highly similar to the reference biologic, without any clinically meaningful differences. On the other hand, gaining the interchangeability designation is about conducting trials of multiple switches within the patient and expecting the same results in any given to patient. Those are two different distinctions. It proves something different, allowing for automatic substitution to occur.
In part two and the conclusion of this interview, which will be published in a separate post, Molly Burich speaks to Boehringer Ingelheim’s progress in Cytelzo’s interchangeability studies, its plans for the product in Europe in the face of several adalimumab biosimilars launches in the EU, and also the complexity inherent in CMS’s plans to move biologic agents from part B to part D coverage.
