AJMC® in the Press, November 30, 2018

Several articles from The American Journal of Managed Care^®’s The Center for Biosimilars^® were included in newsletters this week.

The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC)’s Monday CER Daily Newsfeed included the article, “UK Providers Seek More Real-World Evidence, Financial Incentives for Biosimilar Use,” which covered a study that assessed attitudes toward biosimilars in the clinical specialties of diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatology. Tuesday’s CER Daily Newsfeed included the article, “Pharma to Cap UK Sales Growth in Exchange for Faster NICE Appraisals and Launches,” which reported that the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry announced a voluntary deal with the UK government that involves capping the growth of sales of drugs to the National Health Service at 2% per year in exchange for faster product launches and speedier appraisals.

OBR Oncology’s Tuesday daily newsfeed mentioned the article “New CMS Proposal Includes Prior Authorizations and Step Therapy for Part D Dugs,” which reported on the proposed rule that would allow Part D sponsors to exclude drugs from formulary if they represent only new formulations of existing single-source drugs or biologics, as well as exclude drugs if their prices exceed a certain threshold over a specific look-back period. The rule also allows plans to make broader use of prior authorization and step therapy for drugs covered under Part D. Their Wednesday daily newsfeed included the article “FDA Approves Celltrion’s Rituximab Biosimilar, Truxima,” which covered the FDA’s approval of the biosimilar, referencing Rituxan, for the treatment of adults with CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy.