Biosimilars can be the answer to rising specialty drug costs

With the ultra-high price of specialty drugs – driven largely by biologic medicines, the health care system cannot afford the status quo. Biologics include medicines for inflammatory conditions and new treatments for cancer and rare diseases.

• Specialty medications accounted for more than half of the total pharmacy spend last year*

So what are biosimilars exactly?

Biosimilars are clinically equivalent alternatives to biologics. They’re produced in the same dose at the same strength and administered in exactly the same manner as their reference biologic drugs.

• Nearly 30 biosimilars have already been approved by the FDA**
• Biosimilars can reduce drug spending by an estimated $225 to $375 billion over the next decade***

What’s ahead?

Cigna recognizes that there’s an opportunity to help biosimilars gain greater traction in the United States. We believe now is the time to make sure patients can easily access these clinically proven therapies. It’s a way to help your clients mitigate the devastating financial impact of ultra-high-cost medicines and transform the health care system for all patients living with complex, chronic conditions.

Get full details on why biosimilars will be important to your clients’ pharmacy strategy moving forward.

* Evernorth Drug Trend Report, https://www.evernorth.com/drug-trend-report/utilization-and-costs#main-content June 21, 2021 Cigna Newsroom

** U.S. Food & Drug Administration, https://purplebooksearch.fda.gov/  Sept 7, 2021

*** Based on an Evernorth analysis of Express Scripts Drug Trend Report and IDP Analytics data to model the savings opportunity of 17 widely used biologic medications with patents expected to expire by or before 2030, with the assumption that at least one biosimilar for each reference biologic will be available in the market one year after patent expiration or at the end of exclusivity, whichever is later. June 15, 2021