Singing, Dancing and Taking Care of Herself with Biosimilars

Eileen, 28, lives in New York City and is pursuing her dream of a career in musical theater. Her stage credits keep growing, and thanks to her biosimilar medication, her Crohn’s disease isn’t getting in the way.

“I’ve been fighting Crohn’s disease with a biologic medication for as long as I can remember,” she says. “When I turned 26, I switched health care plans, and the biologic that I had been taking for years wasn’t covered anymore, but my doctor knew of a biosimilar that would be. So we made the change, and now I don’t pay anything for my infusions. I hope that others can have the same access and that more biosimilars will become available on insurance plans in the future. I can’t imagine not having access.”

In the U.S., biosimilars have provided over $12.6 billion in savings since 2011.These safe, effective alternative versions of existing biologic medicines have been used in more than 121 million days of patient therapy. Thanks to a competitive marketplace, biosimilars deliver savings to patients and the entire health care system.

As pandemic restrictions lift on Broadway and stages around the country, Eileen is rekindling her theater aspirations and showing up for auditions. Meanwhile, thanks to her biosimilar, she’s enjoying all that New York City has to offer.

To read other inspiring stories like Eileen’s, check out the latest Voices of Access report.

Share Your Voice:

As we continue to advocate for accessible biosimilars, we will rely more than ever on the voices of real patients. We invite you to share your story on what biosimilar medicines mean to you and urge you to subscribe for advocacy alerts.

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 on our about page.

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 20 percent of total drug spending.