Biosimilars Stand to Cut Costs for Medicare Part D and Beneficiaries, If Uptake Improves

New biologic drugs cost Medicare Part D and its beneficiaries almost $12 billion in 2019, but increased biosimilar uptake could cut spending significantly in coming years, according to a March report from HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Specifically, the OIG report pointed to upcoming launches of Humira (in 2023) and Enbrel (in 2029) biosimilars as potential catalysts for change. The two biologics alone accounted for nearly half of 2019’s Part D spending. Studying 2019 Part D plan formularies, OIG found that biosimilar uptake for four select drug classes was limited due to lack of coverage, and formularies that did cover biosimilars did not encourage their use over the original reference products despite their lower cost. OIG advised CMS to encourage payers to place biosimilars on formulary, which the agency agreed with. As of the second quarter of 2022, most Medicare beneficiaries still have better access to the biologics OIG studied over their biosimilars, with the exception of Teva Pharmaceuticals’ Granix, a biosimilar to Amgen’s Neupogen, and Pfizer’s Retacrit, a biosimilar to Amgen’s Epogen and Johnson & Johnson’s Procrit. Granix holds covered or better status for 51% of Medicare beneficiaries, according to data from MMIT Analytics (MMIT is the parent company of AIS Health). Retacrit, meanwhile, holds 66% covered or better status.

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