Friday May 17, 2019
WASHINGTON, DC (May 17, 2019) — “We commend CMS for its work to promote greater utilization of lower-cost generic and biosimilar medicines, including allowing MA and Part D plans flexibility to prefer lower-cost therapeutic equivalent generic and biosimilar alternatives over their brand counterparts and notifying beneficiaries when there are lower-cost therapeutic equivalent alternatives available.
We look forward to continuing to work with CMS to align coverage and payment policies to increase patient access to more affordable biosimilar and generic medicines, for example, ensuring that health plans are covering and encouraging use of generics and biosimilars through preferred formulary placement relative to the brands they reference.”
MEDIA CONTACT:
Rachel Schwartz
202.249.7147
About AAM
AAM is driven by the belief that access to safe, quality, effective medicine has a tremendous impact on a person’s life and the world around them. Generic and biosimilar medicines improve people’s lives, improving society and the economy in turn. AAM represents the manufacturers and distributors of finished generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars, manufacturers and distributors of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the generic industry. Generic pharmaceuticals are 90 percent of prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. but only 22 percent of total drug spending.
About the Biosimilars Council
The Biosimilars Council, a division of the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), 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.
