Dr Leora Horn on How Biosimilar Pegfilgrastim Could Improve Patient Access

Cost will be one of the most important factors to determine whether or not a biosimilar pegfilgrastim improves patient access to the treatment, said Leora Horn, MD, clinical director of thoracic oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingraham Cancer Center, assistant vice chancellor for faculty development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Transcript (slightly modified)

How might a biosimilar pegfilgrastim improve patient access?

So, that’s a good question. I think a lot of that will depend on cost. We can access the drug for patients and with the recent OBI [On-Body Injector] formulation, where patients can get their injection in clinic, on the day of chemo, but it releases 24 hours later when they’re at home; that’s made access a little bit easier that patients don’t have to drive back and forth to the cancer clinic especially when insurance won’t cover the drug.

I think the biggest issue is going to be: is the cost going to be lower? Because as we know for a lot of drugs, you can sort of think of a biosimilar as a generic version of a chemo agent and if the cost of the drug is as high as some of the generic agents we have in the United States, it’s not going to make it any more affordable for our cancer patients.