ASBM Leads Sessions at Festival of Biologics USA 2020

From March 2-4, ASBM representatives led multiple sessions at the World Biosimilar Congress USA, part of the Festival of Biologics USA 2020 held in San Diego, CA.

ASBM Steering Committee Member Andy Spiegel, executive director of the Global Colon Cancer Association, participated in an opening “fireside chat” with Leah Christl, PhD. Dr. Christl formerly led the FDA’s Therapeutic Biologics and Biosimilars Staff (TBBS) in the Office of New Drugs (OND). Mr. Spiegel also moderated a panel discussion on “How to build a sustainable biosimilars market.”

ASBM Advisory Board Chair Philip Schneider, MS, FASHP moderated a panel discussion on “What do policymakers need to address for biosimilars to become more accessible?” and chaired a session on “Biosimilars in healthcare policy.” Topics examined in these sessions included: “Do biosimilars create real competition?” “Reimbursement in biosimilars;” and “Originators and biosimilars: getting the balance right.”

Following the conference, Dr. Schneider offered the following observations on the various discussions:

  • The US is catching up to the EU in the approval of both biologics and biosimilars, despite Europe’s nearly 10-year lead.
  • Biosimilars are beginning to place downward pressure on the prices of biologics; both reference products and biosimilars.  Metrics for success are prices, not market share.
  • There is agreement on the importance of sustainability in the biologics and biosimilars market to promote innovation and competition. Multi-product tenders are one way to support this.
  • Prescriber choice remains an important issue among most players.

Learn more about the World Biosimilar Congress USA 2020 Meeting here.