Bruce Feinberg, DO: Continuing to Monitor Biosimilar Trends Through Research

As more biosimilars come to the market, there will be more questions to be answered and it is important to stay up to date on these developments. Bruce Feinberg, DO, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Cardinal Health, sat down with HCPLive Rheumatology to discuss Cardinal Health’s 2023 Biosimilars Report and the steps being taken to monitor the trends in biosimilar uptake moving forward.

Feinberg explained that he and his team are constantly examining the market and the various influences that impact it. For example, the Oncology Care Model was a pilot program launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that treated nearly 50% of Medicare beneficiaries with cancer in the last 5 years. The model was sunset and will be replaced by the Enhanced Oncology model (EOM), which will be less robust and impact a lower percentage of Medicare patients. Feinberg wondered how this new model will impact the utilization of biosimilars.

Biosimilars are deemed equivalent, or non-inferior, to the original product, but have been minimally tested to prove their equivalence. Policy can be a driver to increase the use of biosimilars. However, there are questions about how policy changes will impact prices and if those savings will be passed on to patients.

“The greatest incentive to biosimilar utilization has been the economic argument that if we can produce a product that is equivalent at a 20% or 30% lower cost, why isn't that enough of a driver for its use?” Feinberg said.

It is crucial to understand the methodological approach taken in research, as not all evidence is equal. The research conducted by Cardinal Health includes statistical analysis of different cohorts, which allows for a deeper understanding of the differences between specialty positions.

“The depth of inquiry that we do, the size and scale of the nature of the research, differentiates us from [other research], which is often less substantive and therefore less reliable,” Feinberg concluded.

Author Disclosures: Bruce Feinberg, DO, is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Cardinal Health