Resources

Will Pharmacy-Level Substitution of Biosimilars Be Prohibited by Prescribing Physicians?
By Charu Gupta

A new model of drugs has slowly been making its way into the U.S. healthcare market. It’s called “biosimilars” and it seeks to increase competition and potentially lower costs by mimicking brand-name biologic drugs derived from living organisms.

But key questions remain: Will savings materialize the way they have for chemical, synthetically produced generic drugs? Will physicians and patients want biosimilars substituted for their brand name cancer therapies – or will payors and insurance providers force the issue? How effective and equivalent to their biologic counterparts will biosimilars really be and will physicians adopt biosimilar prescribing behavior in large numbers?

The lack of real U.S. market data is making these questions center stage. In order to better understand how physicians feel about biosimilars entering the U.S. healthcare market, InCrowd used its microsurvey technology platform to tap into the thoughts of 150 board-certified physicians in therapeutic areas with high biologic use, including dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, oncology, and rheumatology.

These microsurveys provide important insights into how doctors in target specialty groups understand major or minor developments in the industry.

Some of the significant findings from this survey include:

  • Efficacy (89%) and safety (81%) outranked patient costs (71%) as the top factors for doctors in determining whether to prescribe a biosimilar drug.
  • Nearly half of the physicians said they will increase prescribing of biosimilars over the next three years given these drugs’ potential to significantly reduce patient drug costs.
  • 83 percent of physicians said they would prescribe biosimilars if they were 25 percent cheaper than their biologic counterparts – versus 33 percent of physicians going with biosimilars if they were 5 percent cheaper.
  • One out of four doctors noted that insurance companies and payors will ultimately determine—if not mandate—their levels of biosimilar adoption and prescriptions.

If you’re interested in obtaining a complimentary copy of the full InCrowd MicroSyndicated BioSimilars Report or any of our other proprietary MicroSyndicated Reports, please contact us at 617.934.1600 or send a request to syndicated@incrowdnow.com at your earliest convenience.

Additionally, InCrowd will be conducting a webinar, “The Future of Biosimilars,” on June 7, 2016, with various experts in the biosimilars space, including InCrowd’s co-founder and president, Diane Hayes, Ph.D. Register today!

Related Resources

AI in Healthcare

AI in Healthcare

In December of 2023, InCrowd surveyed 105 US attending Physicians and Residents to explore the possibility of implementing AI into Healthcare settings. As technological advancements continue to advance, we are noticing an increase in the conversation surrounding...

read more
Employee Spotlight: Charles Lonardo

Employee Spotlight: Charles Lonardo

Charles is the VP of Digital Client Engagement & Strategic Growth for InCrowd. Learn more about him below! What is your role within InCrowd? My role at InCrowd is to ensure our technology is best positioned to provide value & insights to our key stakeholders....

read more