Oncologists favor biosimilar adoption, Decision Resources finds

BURLINGTON, Mass. While biosimilars promise to provide therapies for a wide range of diseases, their biggest fans may come from cancer specialists, according to a new report.

Healthcare market research firm Decision Resources found in a report that oncologists would be the most aggressive in adopting biosimilars compared with other specialists because of their lower clinical trial requirements. According to research, oncologists in the United States will adopt biosimilars faster than their European counterparts because they will require fewer and shorter phase-3 clinical trials before they feel comfortable prescribing them.

The firm expected biosimilars of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, as well as biosimilars of monoclonal antibody therapies used to treat cancer, to reduce brand sales by more than $7 billion in 2019 in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which Decision Resources collectively refers to as the “EU5.”

“Because of patent expiries and more-established regulatory pathways for approving biosimilars in Europe, most biosimilar [monoclonal antibodies] will launch in the EU5 before the United States,” Decision Resources analyst Cindy Fung said. “As a result, U.S. physicians will likely benefit from clinical experience in European markets that will increase their rate of adopting these agents.”