Surveyed U.S. Payers Are Significantly More Likely To Reimburse Biosimilars Developed By Multinational Manufacturers Compared With Those Developed By Regional Emerging Market Players

EXTON, Pa., July 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BioTrends Research Group, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for specialized biopharmaceutical issues, finds that U.S. payer trust in specific biosimilar manufacturers could dictate which companies will be most successful in the future biosimilar market.

The Biosimilars Advisory Service report entitled U.S. and EU Payer Perspectives finds that, when considering various types of potential biosimilar manufacturers, a greater proportion of surveyed U.S. payers place a high level of trust in large pharmaceutical companies with biologics and/or biosimilars experience compared with non-pharmaceutical companies or emerging market companies.  Not only are biosimilars that are developed by well-trusted companies significantly more likely to be reimbursed, but they are also more likely to encounter significantly fewer reimbursement restrictions than the branded agent.

Interviewed European payers believe that if biosimilars are produced to high quality standards and are approved by the European Medicines Agency, then generally their concerns associated with different types of manufacturer and country of production will be addressed. The majority of surveyed U.S. payers report that approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be sufficient to allay some of their concerns about biosimilars. Looking at the data at the class level, a smaller proportion of payers say that FDA approval will address all of their concerns for biosimilar monoclonal antibodies and fusion proteins for chronic diseases, compared with biosimilar small recombinant proteins.

"Although the majority of surveyed U.S. payers believe that biosimilars and brands are very similar to one another with only minor, non-clinically significant differences, a large group believe that they are only somewhat similar with significant or possibly significant clinical differences," said BioTrends Research Group Senior Director, Andrew Merron Ph.D.  "Compared with payers who believe brands and biosimilars are only somewhat similar, a greater proportion of surveyed payers who say brands and biosimilars are very similar expect to add biosimilars to their formulary within six months of launch. This finding suggests that the greater the perceived level of similarity, the faster the predicted speed of uptake."

The Biosimilars Advisory Service provides insight and analysis that is vital to successful business planning in the rapidly evolving biosimilars space. The service includes quarterly webinars detailing major developments, analyst insight addressing key market changes and opportunities, therapeutic area-specific primary research and forecasting modules.

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SOURCE BioTrends Research Group