Dr. Lyman on Educational Initiatives Regarding the Use of Biosimilars in Oncology

Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, senior lead, Health Care Quality and Policy, Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research, member, Cancer Prevention Program, Public Health Services Division, and member, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses educational initiatives regarding the use of biosimilars in oncology.

There's a need for more educational programs on the development of biosimilars in oncology, explains Lyman. These programs could help supplement primary knowledge from medical literature and meetings. Lyman has helped develop these programs for the past 3 to 3.5 years. At every subsequent meeting, Lyman sees a more educated audience asking more nuanced questions about the use and impact of biosimilars in oncology. Now, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and American Society of Hematology are hosting educational programs on biosimilars. As with anything that's new; acclimation will take time, says Lyman.

Over the next 3 to 5 years, Lyman anticipates that biosimilars will have a large-scale impact on healthcare costs. Regulatory approval is merely the first step in enabling such an impact. To ensure the long-term use of these products, careful post-marketing surveillance parameters, which were established by the FDA, will be required to track any rare or delayed adverse events that weren’t available when the drug was approved. If this is done, oncologists will have an additional way of reigning in growing healthcare costs, which could help improve access to these valuable drugs, concludes Lyman.