Study Examines Additional Costs of Non-Medical Biosimilar Switching

A study presented at the 2018 Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2018) examined how non-medical switching from originator biologic products to biosimilar products could increase or neutralize costs due to increased resource utilizations.

“As biosimilars are approved and commercialized for rheumatic diseases, patients may be switched from originator biologic treatment to biosimilars due to perceived cost savings between the two biologic products,” Allan Gibofsky, MD, of the Weill Cornell Medical College at Cornell University, and colleagues wrote. “However, in the short term, non-medical switching may require additional patient education, office visits, lab/imaging tests, and administrative support which could lead to substantial costs.”

The researchers estimated the short-term costs of non-medical biosimilar switching among patients with stable rheumatic disease from the perspective of a medical center by developing a two component economic model. The two models included the administrative burden, which takes into account pre-switching and post-switching costs, and the provider, which takes into account costs until 3 months post-switching.

Study results showed that the administrative costs totaled £19, 617 per medical center, while the provider costs totaled  £113 per switched patient. With an assumed 572 switched patients per center total short term costs were  £84,174. The researchers explained that 23% of costs were due to program set-up and support and 77% of costs were due to provider time and patient monitoring. 

“Switching stable patients with a rheumatic condition from originator biologics to biosimilars could have considerable short-term costs for a center,” Dr Gibofsky and colleagues concluded. “Additional real world studies are needed to better weigh the potential saving vs. cost associated with non-medical switching.”

This study completed with funding from AbbVie.