Biosimilars are biological agents developed to be highly similar and therapeutically equivalent to originator biologics. Their main development driver is their potential to bring market competition. By fostering price competition, biosimilars promote quality care while managing spending. This is fundamental to support healthcare ecosystem’s long-term sustainability. However, the literature indicates that the level of competition achieved following biosimilars market availability varies by country and by molecule, and that biosimilars contribution to attaining price reductions and extended patients’ access to treatments is also variable. This variability is indicative of the divergent implementation of biosimilar policies across health systems, and of the different capacity of these policies to support favorable environments for the market launch and adoption of biosimilars. There is a need to map policies concerning biosimilars and to identify elements of these policies that affect the long-term sustainability of off-patent biologic and biosimilar markets.

This Forum addresses topics of interest for the ISPOR Biosimilars Special Interest Group and will follow the structure of a panel. Cate Lockhart will introduce the session and provide the US perspective on elements that may undermine the long-term sustainability of off-patent biologic and biosimilar markets. Murray Aitken will share insights from IQVIA on building frameworks to evaluate sustainability risks. Jackie Vanderpuye-Orgle will discuss elements needed to reach consensus on long-term sustainability objectives. Anna Hyde will comment on these sustainability objectives from the patients’ advocate perspective. Each speaker (10 minutes allocated per presentation) will raise a question to be addressed by the audience via a real-time polling system. After the speakers’ presentations, Teresa Barcina will moderate a Q&A session that will be structured around the answers of the audience to the poll questions.