US biosimilars drug market isn't broken after all, study finds

The US biosimilar drug market emerged in 2015 to provide safe, effective, and more affordable alternatives to existing biologic drugs, but it has been slow to develop compared with Europe.

Now, eight years into the US experience with biosimilars, researchers at the USC Leonard D Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics have studied the cancer drug trastuzumab, the active ingredient of Roche’s (ROG: SIX) blockbuster cancer drug Herceptin, and its five biosimilar entrants as an example of biosimilars’ potential to reduce drug prices. Published today in  Health Affairs, the study is one of the first to look at several biosimilar competitors in terms of US market share, price, and physician prescribing.

Researchers evaluated changes in average sales price, net price, and the extent to which the first biosimilar retained its advantage over later biosimilar entrants. Data show that the originator, Herceptin, began losing market share immediately after the first biosimilar, Kanjinti from Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), entered the market.