Biosimilars and Patient Support: A Must-Have Combination

January 15, 2018

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Biosimilars – medicines modelled after existing biologic specialty drugs – have arrived in Canada, and the future promises to deliver a lot more of these products to the market. Although they’re generally offered at a lower price compared to originator biologics, biosimilars are still specialty medicines requiring full patient support program (PSP) reinforcement. This is no place for “PSP lite” offerings.

Patients, physicians, and manufacturers have come to rely on PSPs to manage the complexities of treatment with specialty pharmaceuticals. In today’s crowded market, biosimilars will find it challenging to deliver great services to patients, let alone compete, without a PSP.

But not just any PSP: different drugs call for different types and levels of support. If your drug requires special handling, such as end-to-end refrigeration, you’ll need a PSP that can manage delicate shipment protocols. If patients need complex lab work to start using your product, you’ll want a PSP that helps them access these tests.

The payer landscape is also in flux. In the U.S., payers and manufacturers have been moving toward “value-driven agreements” in which payers only reimburse treatment that works.¹ With specialty’s share in Canadian private plans now topping 30%², it’s safe to say that Canadian payers will be looking at similar strategies – and asking manufacturers for more and more data to justify their specialty drugs, including biosimilars. A PSP with the capacity to manage data can help you prepare for this future. Stay tuned.


References

1. Value-Based Contracting. Life Sciences Today: A Huron Point of View. Huron Consulting Group 2016.

2. Express scripts Canada drug trend report 2016.

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