2021 Year in Review - Biosimilars

A comprehensive, team-based biosimilar adoption model in a community oncology practice demonstrated successful conversion from brand drugs to biosimilars that was associated with substantial cost-savings.

Analysis of real-world trends of biosimilar prescribing from 2019 to 2020 indicated rapid uptake of biosimilars among oncology providers, although the extent of biosimilar prescribing varied among products.

The findings of a retrospective observational study on healthcare resource utilization and cost patterns after formulary conversion to a biosimilar indicate that overall results may be driven by behavior at initial formulary switch.

Real-world evidence indicates robust biosimilar uptake of the first FDA-approved bevacizumab biosimilar, bevacizumab-awwb, across its approved indications, including metastatic colorectal cancer and non–small-cell lung cancer.

The findings from a small, retrospective study suggest that same-day pegfilgrastim-cbqv was a safe and effective alternative to standard administration 24 hours postchemotherapy for the primary and secondary prophylaxis of febrile neutropenia with myelosuppressive chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

A retrospective study conducted in Poland confirmed that treatment with trastuzumab-anns was associated with an acceptable cardiac safety profile, even when switching from trastuzumab reference or when combined with pertuzumab.

Preliminary findings of this retrospective study indicate that treatment with bevacizumab reference product may be associated with a higher risk for hypertension and proteinuria, whereas treatment with bevacizumab biosimilars correlated with shorter onset of these adverse events.

The results of the cost-efficiency analysis within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Oncology Care Model indicate that switching from reference pegfilgrastim to pegfilgrastim-jmdb provided cost-savings that could potentially be reallocated to food and transportation support.

A real-world retrospective study (Canadian population) showed that patients with HER2-positive neoadjuvant early breast cancer treated with trastuzumab-dkst versus trastuzumab achieved similar pCR rates.