The FDA on pricing – putting patients at the heart of decision-making by Dr Nicola Davies

During the recent National Health Policy Conference run by America’s Health Insurance Plans, the US Food and Drug Administration’s Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb shared his candid remarks on the state of the pharmaceutical market in the USA.1 While drug prices are traditionally not part of the FDA’s responsibilities, the physician and cancer survivor was passionate about highlighting his observations of the American healthcare industry, says Dr Nicola Davies in her monthly exclusive blog for The Pharma Letter.

The Need to Improve Access to Biosimilar Treatments

In the UK, copies of a Roche biotech product for blood cancer now account for 80% of the local market since they were introduced in 2017.2 The adoption of these less expensive versions of Rituximab (produced by Novartis and Celltrion), which are discounted by 50%-60%, has saved the British healthcare system an estimated £80 million (equivalent to $113 million) annually. In March, Merck & Co’s biosimilar copy of Roche’s antibody drug for breast cancer, Herceptin (trastuzumab), was launched in the UK in partnership with Samsung Bioepis. Other biosimilars are expected to enter the market at a faster pace now that patents on antibody treatments for serious diseases, including cancer, are beginning to expire. Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) anticipates saving up to £300 million a year as a result of using biosimilars.