What would be the main indications for opting for biosimilars over an original biologic, outside of insurance barriers?

A timely question, as we head to 2023! The only reason to use biosimilars is for the broad purpose of resource stewardship. There isn't a medical reason to prefer a biosimilar over a reference product (or vice versa), because if a product were found to have a significantly different therapeutic effect compared to a reference biologic, then it would not be FDA-approved as biosimilar to it.

A few reasons to use a biosimilar that are related to conserving/maximizing resources, include:

• reducing financial toxicity to patients whose out-of-pocket cost is based on price
• reducing time spent by patients and medical staff arranging coverage and appealing denials

One biosimilar may be chosen over another biosimilar in specific situations:

• moving to a ...

For those interested, there is an upcoming webinar by the Arthritis Foundation discussing the usage of biosimilars in inflammatory arthritis. It is on 11/9/2022, 6-7PM ET. Further details at the link below:

https://www.arthritis.org/events/webinars/upcoming-webinars

This may provide further information on the current thought process on the usage of biosimilars in Rheumatology.