Pricing Strategies

The HHS and CMS have proposed that health plans in the US be required to place generic and brand drugs on the correct tiers for their drug category.

The launch of Amgen’s Amjevita, the first US biosimilar rival to Humira, has been accompanied by multiple fresh forecasts of how competition could play out this year, with a host of further biosimilar launches on the horizon.

In the wake of Amgen announcing a dual pricing strategy for its debut US adalimumab biosimilar – with the firm’s newly-launched Amjevita version being offered at both 5% off and 55% off the WAC of the Humira original – investors and analysts were keen to press the firm for further details of its pricing strategy.

Amgen has confirmed its long-awaited launch of Amjevita, the first US biosimilar rival to Humira, kicking off a year of competition that will also see a second wave of adalimumab products launch in six months’ time. The company has announced that it will offer the product at a 55% discount to the originator.

Pfizer’s Ibrance is set to lose exclusivity in the US only by 2027, but the Indian market is buzzing with activity as generics including from top-ranked drug maker Sun Pharma vie for a share of the pie. Competing CDK4/6 inhibitors are already available but can cut-price palbociclib versions alter market dynamics?

IQVIA’s latest Global Use of Medicines report demonstrates the impact generics and biosimilars are set to have on global pharmaceutical spending, with losses of exclusivity expected to dampen spending growth over the next five years.

Germany’s Bundesministerium für Gesundheit is reworking the country’s off-patent drug legislation to allow for more flexible pricing.

With the US on the cusp of biosimilar competition to Humira, Julie Reed – executive director of the country’s Biosimilars Forum – has urged PBMs to bolster access by making all adalimumab biosimilars available as they launch throughout 2023.

Rising inflation has exacerbated pressures in the off-patent drug sector, prompting Medicines for Europe and the US Association for Accessible Medicines to call for regulatory intervention to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space.