Lowering Prices with Biosimilars: ASP+8: Stakeholder Meeting Round-Up
On Thursday, June 10 at 1:00pm ET, the Biosimilars Forum and the Biosimilars Council hosted a virtual briefing about policy proposals to strengthen biosimilar adoption and utilization and ensure savings for patients and Medicare.
Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR) joined the event to discuss his bipartisan BIOSIM Act. Rep. Schrader and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced H.R. 2815 in April with the aim of accelerating patient access to new biosimilar treatments by providing a temporary increase to physician reimbursement.
Panelists’ Quotes Highlight Key Takeaways
Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
“This is a critical opportunity for us to actually be able to get much needed legislation across the finish line and to help encourage some of the providers out there that just need a little extra stimulation to understand the advantages of biosimilars.”
Meaghan Rose Smith, Executive Director of the Biosimilars Forum
“Biologics drugs are amazing, life-saving therapies that have revolutionized how we treat diseases, but they are clearly expensive and taking up a larger proportion of drug spending. Fortunately, we have biosimilars to provide lower cost, medically equivalent options. These are a key part of any answer to lowering healthcare costs.”
Christine Simmon, Executive Director of the Biosimilars Council
“The opportunity is there with biosimilars, but we must align our drug coverage and payment systems to support biosimilar adoption, and that means specifically updating Medicare Part B to reward providers when they use lower cost biosimilars. It means modernizing Medicare Part D to encourage health plans and PBMs to prefer lower cost biosimilars.”
John Brooks, Partner, South Capitol
“The next couple of years are really the key years, where we can expect to see the biosimilars market take off. If you think about the BIOSIM Act, it modifies payment incentives, which could increase biosimilar adoption and help biosimilar products deliver savings.”
Brian Sutter, Partner & CEO, Capitol Hill Consulting Group
“The ASP+8 legislative priority of the BIOSIM Act really presents an opportunity to put some real ‘points on the board’ in terms of policies to lower drug costs.”
To learn more about the Biosimilars Forum, please visit biosimforum.wpengine.com or supportbiosimilars.com
To learn more about the Biosimilars Council, please visit biosimilarscouncil.org.