We Work For Health Executive Director Dan Leonard released the following statement in support of recently introduced legislation that aims to address challenges the Inflation Reduction Act created for the biosimilar market.
“We Work For Health applauds Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) introduction of S. 5459, the Biosimilars Access and Affordability Act, and her commitment to policies that will protect the future of biosimilar innovation in the United States. Among the unintended consequences of the IRA is how it discourages the development of biosimilars,” said Dan Leonard. “One of the most critical elements the generics and biosimilars market needs to survive is certainty, and yet the IRA injects more uncertainty and higher financial risks for biosimilar development. For example, a biosimilar developer may start the R&D process only to have a drug named for negotiation and then consider abandoning that effort because of the financial implications. Those losses of competition and choice harm patients and Medicare as a whole.
“Biosimilars have led to $238 million in out-of-pocket savings for patients in Medicare in 2020 alone, and $23.6 billion in cumulative savings to the US healthcare system since 2015. There are currently 100 biosimilar products in development with $180 billion in projected savings over the next five years, but the IRA puts that progress at risk. Preserving certainty for biosimilars will allow the market to work the way it has so successfully. That is exactly what this bill will do, and we look forward to working with Senator Blackburn and others in Congress to educate on this important issue.”