Decision Resources , one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that oncologists will be the most aggressive in adopting biosimilars compared with other specialties because of their lower clinical trial requirements. According to the report Physician Perspectives on Biosimilar G-CSFs and MAbs in Oncology, Decision Resources expects biosimilar versions of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and monoclonal antibody (MAb) therapies used in oncology to erode more than $7 billion in brand sales in 2019 alone across the United States, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom) and Japan.
The report reveals North American oncologists in particular will more rapidly adopt biosimilars compared to their European counterparts. Compared with French and German oncologists, U.S. oncologists will require fewer and shorter Phase III clinical trials before they feel comfortable prescribing biosimilars. The majority of surveyed American oncologists would require one trial lasting 12 months or less for biosimilar G-CSFs and at most two clinical trials lasting two years or less for biosimilar MAbs before they feel comfortable prescribing biosimilars. Surveyed solid-tumor oncologists across countries have higher expectations for clinical trials of biosimilar MAbs than for biosimilar G-CSFs.
Across the U.S., France and Germany, the majority of surveyed oncologists expect to begin prescribing biosimilars within 12 months after launch, contributing to the rapid erosion of branded G-CSFs and MAbs.
“Because of patent expiries and more established regulatory pathways for approving biosimilars in Europe, most biosimilar MAbs will launch in the Europe before the United States,” said Decision Resources Analyst Cindy Fung, Ph.D. “As a result, American physicians will likely benefit from clinical experience in European markets that will increase their rate of adopting these agents.”
