Economic Benefits of Biosimilar Treatment Evaluated

A recent cost analysis showed an estimated annual savings of over $310,000 for a one-million-member payer after there was a 4.5% utilization shift from treatment with originator rituximab to the biosimilar rituximab-abbs. This was observed among patients receiving treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and microscopic polyangiitis.

“Rituximab-abbs was the first rituximab biosimilar approved in the US and is expected to reduce drug acquisition costs,” said the researchers during ASCO 2021. “The objective was to project incremental annual cost differences between [rituximab-abbs] and [originator rituximab] for a hypothetical 1-million-member US health care insured (Medicare) population.”

For the study, a budget impact model was used to estimate changes in 1-year, and it examined drug and administration costs. This included an increased rituximab-abbs uptake from 17.5% to 22.0%. The researchers used past literature along with product labels and publicly available cost resources to determine the values for epidemiology, market share, distribution, drug dosing, administration, and costs.

“Drug acquisition and administration costs were from 2020 Average Sales Price pricing file and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule,” they explained. “Patient cost share was based on 2020 Medicare Part B 20% cost-share for office visits and drug products. Univariate sensitivity analyses were conducted.”

According to the findings, the estimated total annual plan incremental savings for this large payer after the utilization shift was $312,379, equating to $0.31 per enrolled member per year. Additionally, the per-patient incremental drug cost savings for the biosimilar treatment for one year ranged between $5474 and $12,924.

The study authors concluded that the use of rituximab-abbs “may confer considerable economic benefits vs originator rituximab.”