Does Biosimilar Bevacizumab Offer Affordable Treatment Options for Cancer Patients in the USA? A Budget Impact Analysis from US Commercial and Medicare Payer Perspectives

Jingyan Yang (), Rongzhe Liu, Varun Ektare, Jennifer Stephens and Ahmed Shelbaya
Additional contact information
Jingyan Yang: Pfizer Inc.
Rongzhe Liu: Pharmerit, an OPEN Health Company
Varun Ektare: Pharmerit, an OPEN Health Company
Jennifer Stephens: Pharmerit, an OPEN Health Company
Ahmed Shelbaya: Pfizer Inc.

Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 2021, vol. 19, issue 4, No 12, 605-618

Abstract: Abstract Background Bevacizumab remains the most widely used and most thoroughly characterized angiogenesis inhibitor for a range of advanced cancers. Bevacizumab-bvzr (Zirabev®), a biosimilar of bevacizumab, was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which provides a less costly option. This study aimed to evaluate the financial impact of introducing bevacizumab-bvzr from US commercial and Medicare payer perspectives. Methods A Microsoft Excel-based budget impact model was developed over a 5-year time horizon. Target population was patients to be treated with bevacizumab for FDA-approved indications. Drug costs (2020 US$) were based on average sales price and wholesale acquisition cost, accounting for payer-specific reimbursement models and provider settings. Drug dosing and duration were based on prescribing information and pivotal trial publications. Results In a hypothetical 10-million-member health plan, 503 and 723 patients were estimated to be treated with bevacizumab in year 1 and year 5, respectively. Assuming an annual market shift of 1.7%, 3.6%, 6.7%, 9.4%, and 11.9% to bevacizumab-bvzr, an annual cost saving of $313,363 ($0.003 per member per month [PMPM]) was estimated for a commercial payer and $92,880 ($0.001 PMPM) for Medicare in year 1. Cumulative 5-year cost savings were $7,030,924 ($0.012 PMPM) for a commercial payer and $4,059,257 ($0.007 PMPM) for Medicare. More than half of the cost savings was attributed to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Conclusions The introduction of biosimilar bevacizumab-bvzr was estimated to provide substantial cost savings for US payers, which would allow additional patients access to bevacizumab treatment.

Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40258-021-00637-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:aphecp:v:19:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s40258-021-00637-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40258

DOI: 10.1007/s40258-021-00637-5

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Health Economics and Health Policy is currently edited by Timothy Wrightson

More articles in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().