AJMC® in the Press, May 3, 2019

The National Pharmaceutical Council’s (NPC’s) Monday CER Daily Newsfeed included The American Journal of Managed Care^®’s (AJMC^®’s) interview with C.K. Wang, MD, senior medical director, COTA. During the interview, Wang discussed how COTA’s real-world data platform helps oncologists understand and identify areas where there is treatment availability and help them work to contain costs in the long run. The newsfeed also included an article from AJMC^®’s sister site The Center for Biosimilars^®. The article, “Balancing Drug Costs, Access, and Innovation: 2 Obama Administration Official Weigh In,” covered an editorial on the balance needed to ensure access to therapies and doing away with financial toxicity while allowing for innovation to continue.

OBR Oncology’s Tuesday newsfeed highlighted an article from The Center for Biosimilars^® on biosimilar trastuzumab. The article, “Sandoz and EirGenix to Partner on Biosimilar Trastuzumab, EG12014,” reported on Sandoz’s announcement that it had entered into a partnership with Taiwan-based biotechnology manufacturing and development company EirGenix, Inc, for a proposed trastuzumab biosimilar referencing Herceptin.

An article from Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society included The Center for Biosimilars^®’ interview with Carol Lynch, president of Sandoz US and head of North America, who discussed the promise of the US biosimilars market. During the interview, Lynch explained that the savings potential of the market is significant, as is the ability to expand access for patients to biologics medicines.

Wednesday’s NPC newsfeed mentioned the AJMC^® article “Gathering and Using Real-World Data to Improve Patient Outcomes,” which covered a session at Asembia’s 15th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit. During the session, speakers highlighted a pilot program to gather and use real-world evidence to compare outcomes at 7 large academic centers for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and malignant melanoma.