From November 2nd-4th, ASBM representatives participated in the Festival of Biologics 2022 Europe, held in Basel, Switzerland.

ASBM Advisory Board Chair Philip Schneider, MS, FASHP, FFIP gave a presentation entitled “Key Factors for Improving Sustainability in Biosimilar Markets”. The presentation reflected the findings from a recent webinar ASBM held on this subject with GaBI Journal. Among the factors identified in the webinar were the ability for physicians to choose freely between multiple products- innovators and biosimilars- when prescribing.

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Professor Schneider also presented a poster session on the topic featuring data from ASBM’s recent survey of 401 US physicians. Findings included:

  • 71% of respondents considered it highly important that payers (public and private) should reimburse multiple products in a given class- including originator and biosimilars.
  • 81% believe their patients would be best served under the biosimilar access scenario popular throughout most of Western Europe- in which biosimilars and originator products are both reimbursed, biosimilars may be encouraged for new patients, but automatic or pharmacy-level substitution is not permitted.
  • Only 8% supported the access scenario implemented by several Canadian provinces, in which only a preferred, government-chosen product is reimbursed and to which both new and stable patients must be switched. 11% were unsure.

ASBM Steering Committee Member Andrew Spiegel, Executive Director of the Global Colon Cancer Association, gave the Day 3 opening keynote address on the topic: “Protecting the future of biosimilars”. Mr. Spiegel also chaired a panel entitled “Biosimilar Communication and Patient Engagement Strategies – How Can Stakeholders Work Together to Effectively Communicate About Biosimilars in the Clinic?” on which Professor Schneider appeared as a panelist.

View ASBM’s recent webinar “Key Factors for Successful Biosimilar Uptake: Europe and US” here.

Read the GaBI Journal report of the webinar here.