Dr. Pagel on Biosimilars and Cost Consciousness in Oncology

John M. Pagel, MD, PhD, chief of the Hematologic Malignancies Program, and director, Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Program, at Swedish Cancer Institute, discusses the use of biosimilars in oncology and the importance of cost consciousness.

Biosimilars have a more advantageous cost profile compared with originator compounds, says Pagel. Although biosimilars are less expensive than originator compounds, they have the same safety and efficacy profile. As such, biosimilars should be able to be used interchangeability in practice, says Pagel.

In November 2018, the FDA approved the first rituximab (Rituxan) biosimilar CT-P10 (Truxima; rituximab-abbs) for the treatment of adult patients with CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy. In November 2019, the developers of the biosimilar announced the launch of the agent at a 10% discount to the list price of the reference product.