Employers, Pushed to Use Biosimilars, Fret Over Drug Formularies

The biosimilars industry could start to reduce investments if employers don’t push their pharmacy benefit managers to include their lower-cost therapies in lists of drugs they’ll cover in 2023, the head of an industry group says.

Biosimilars are biologic products that are similar to biologics approved by the Food and Drug Administration. There are nearly 40 FDA-approved biosimilars, but only three that are interchangeable.

“What we’ve seen in the biosimilars world is low uptake,” even though they are a relatively low-cost replacement for high-priced biologic drugs, Juliana Reed, executive director of the Biosimilars Forum, said in an interview. Biosimilar manufacturers ...