Promise of biosimilars is being fulfilled, but market and regulatory barriers to uptake persist
WASHINGTON, DC (September 21, 2022) – The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) and its Biosimilars Council released the 2022 U.S. Generic & Biosimilar Medicines Savings Report showing strong year-over-year growth in savings due to biosimilars.
In 2021, biosimilars generated $7 billion in savings for patients and the health care system. Since the first biosimilar approval in the United States in 2015, biosimilar medicines have generated more than $13 billion in savings.
In addition to reducing costs, biosimilars have increased lifesaving treatment options for patients. To date, biosimilars have been used in 364 million days of patient therapy, and have supported 150 million incremental days of therapy that patients would otherwise not have received without biosimilar competition.
Despite that progress, biosimilars still only make up less than 30 percent of the markets in which they compete, highlighting the persistent challenges to biosimilar growth and cost-savings.
“Biosimilar competition has given more patients access to the care and medicines that they need,” said Craig Burton, Executive Director of the Biosimilars Council. “But new challenges on the horizon demand attention, including the launch of new pharmacy benefit biosimilars, ongoing gaps in biosimilar adoption, and perverse incentives in the health care system that favor higher-cost products over lower-cost biosimilars. The coming years will be critical to fulfill their promise for patients.”
Findings from the report show how biosimilars and their generic counterparts continue to be the solution for high drug spending:
- Total Generic and Biosimilar Savings for 2021: $373 billion
- Total Generic and Biosimilar Savings for Past 10 years: more than $2.6 trillion
- Total Generic and Biosimilar Savings to Medicare for 2021: $119 billion
- Total Generic and Biosimilar Savings in Commercial Plans for 2021: $178 billion
- Biosimilars have cut the growth rate in spending for oncology medications nearly in half.
- New biosimilar autoimmune medicines are projected to save patients even more once competition begins in 2023 and 2024.
This year’s report was developed by analyzing independent research from IQVIA to quantify how much money America’s patients and the U.S. health care system are saving because of generic and biosimilar alternatives to brand prescription and biologic medications.
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About the Biosimilars Council
The Biosimilars Council, a division of the Association for Accessible Medicines, works to ensure a positive environment for patient access to biosimilar medicines. The Biosimilars Council is a leading source for information about the safety and efficacy of more affordable alternatives to costly brand biologic medicines. Areas of focus include public and health expert education, strategic partnerships, government affairs, legal affairs and regulatory policy. More information is available at www.biosimilarscouncil.org.
