The drugs were supposed to save the U.S. tens of billions of dollars. Now their future is in doubt.
In the U.S., the FDA has approved 24 biosimilars, nearly all since 2015. Just 11 of them are actually for sale, generally at 15 percent to 35 percent below the original drug's price. Those discounts are easily matched by original biologic makers who prefer insurers give them a smaller piece of the pie than nothing.
But as more people took biologic drugs and companies increased prices 6 percent to 20 percent every year, insurers and middlemen called prescription benefit managers limited patients' access. They also set high copayments for many patients. "We have patients who say, 'I've been taking this drug for 15 or 20 years and there's still no generic,'" Mitchell notes.
Then shoulder injuries forced him onto disability and cost Pope his employer's"excellent insurance." Pope said he can't afford the thousands of dollars Enbrel would cost him under his Medicare plan.
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