Targeted therapies must show cost effectiveness to compete with biosimilars in Brazil and Mexico

Certain targeted therapies enjoy extensive but incomplete coverage in Brazil and Mexico through complex mechanisms, according to research by Decision Resources Group.

The group looked at therapies such as MabThera (rituximab), from Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and Velcade (bortezomib), from US health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), for multiple myeloma (MM). To obtain reimbursement, novel therapies for these indications must show head-to-head clinical benefits and improved cost-effectiveness (or other pharmacoeconomic benefits such as reduced budgetary impact) against these standards of care. However, meeting these requirements may become increasingly challenging because each of these markets has already welcomed a copy biologic or a generic version of these agents, according to the report. Nonetheless, as the prevalence of NHL and MM continues to grow with the aging populations of Brazil and Mexico, the need for novel, more tolerable and effective agents increases.

Encouraging biosimilars