Doctors Say Biosimilar drugs are priced too high and do little to improve accessibility

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Doctors Say Biosimilar drugs are priced too high and do little to improve accessibility

Despite exceptions to the rule, leading doctors in India think biosimilar drugs by Indian companies are priced too high and only marginally lower than an innovator drug, deterring physicians from leaning towards biosimilars and prefer the more expensive brands sold by multinational companies or their partners.

The billion dollar biosimilar drugs market which Indian drug companies are touting as the next big opportunity to break out of the competitive margins of generic drug has not moved the needle in terms of affordability. A research done on the cost of biosimilar drugs in comparison with their originator drugs shows that biosimilar drugs are priced in the same range, or in some cases are priced higher than the originator drugs deterring doctors from prescribing these drugs to their patients.

Biosimilar drugs are follow-on biologics that have nearly the same efficacy as the original drug and used to treat cancer or autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Unlike generic drug they are not “copycat” drugs as the final product is different to the original drug. However regulators demand that the safety and efficacy of these drugs remain same.

In the

last six years companies like Dr Reddys, Biocon, Mylan, Zydus Cadila, Hetero and Reliance Lifesciences have launched biosimilar drugs mostly in the oncology space. Recently Hyderabad based Hetero launched the biosimilar of Bevacizumab and Rituximab, two anti-cancer drugs originally developed by Swiss drug maker Roche.

Sold under the brand name of Cizumab, Hetero priced the 100 mg drug at Rs. 28,450, the originator brand Avastin costs Rs 29,000. Hetero said that it is early days to assess the success of its launch. It will be very early and premature for us to determine the market share and responses from the doctors. He added that besides, with the introduction of several brands, that too at affordable costs, we foresee that the market is expanding at a much faster pace.

Trastuzumab, a breast cancer drug that has become one of the standard lines of therapy, has seen four companies enter the market with biosimilar offerings. The move was triggered after Roche decided not to renew its patent in 2013, making way for companies to launch their own versions. Though Roche has tried to stall the launch by suing companies, Biocon, Mylan, Zydus and Reliance Lifesciences have respectively entered this space pricing the drug at a marginal discount or at par with originator brand, Herceptin. Biocon’s brand CanMab is priced at Rs. 41,000 for the 440 mg vial, Zydus’ brand Vivitra is priced at Rs. 64,999, other brands are priced in the range of Rs. 50,000 per vial.

“In terms of safety though we are comfortable prescribing the biosimilar drugs, the discounts are hardly beneficial to the patients” said Dr Mehboob Basade a medical oncologist at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital. “In most cases the difference between an originator and biosimilar is just 25%, so if a patient can afford one lakh, he wouldn’t be paying an extra 25 thousand for an original drug” Basade explains.

The Campaign for Affordable Trastuzumab had calculated the affordability of Biocon’s CanMab and it found that the drug could be bought only by families with an income is Rs. 50,000 and above. The campaigners in 2014 had urged Biocon to offer the drug at Rs. 5,000 per vial to make it more affordable.

Mandakini is a bioscience enthusiast and loves to portray a picture of “Science” like never before. Serving as an Editor in Biotecnika she has penned down many interesting news and articles in the past and has also helped in posting just the right job for you. Follow her for more updates in the industry !!