PREVIOUS EVENT

America’s Sky-High Drug Prices & the Role of Biosimilars

Americans have grown accustomed to using generic drugs, which are cheaper copycat versions of brand-name medicines. A biosimilar drug is similar, but not identical to an already-approved biologic drug, which is often derived from living organisms. There were high hopes these products could increase competition with branded biologics to lower health care spending and patients’ out-of-pocket costs. But the U.S. biosimilars market has lagged behind Europe’s for more than a decade due to a variety of issues – lack of payer activity, drug substitution policies, financial and regulatory concerns. Among these, it’s not clear how much money can be saved using biosimilars over biologics to fight certain diseases.

On Wednesday, June 19, POLITICO had a deep-dive conversation to discuss the obstacles to getting biosimilars into the U.S. market, how effective biosimilars will be in increasing health care savings and where biologics and biosimilars fit into the broader strategies for Medicare or other health care purchasers looking to cut costs.

Continue the conversation using #POLITICOHealth

This event is presented by:

AT A GLANCE

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.)

Inmaculada Hernandez

Assistant Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy

John O’Brien

Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Drug Pricing Reform, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Leslie Ritter

Senior Director, Federal Government Relations, National MS Society

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