Saving Money on Biologic Medicines
By State Representative Tila Hubrecht, 151st
District
In recent years, biologic medicines have been at the
forefront of cutting edge research in the biomedical field helping us to find
new treatments and even cures for chronic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis,
multiple sclerosis and even cancer. These medicines have a complex molecular
structure grown from living cells. They have become more commonly used as time
has gone on. To this point though, biologics have not been able to be
substituted with an interchangeable biosimilar medicine in Missouri. Biosimilar
medicines have a molecular structure similar to biologics with the same
intended goal but are not exactly the same as the original biologic.
Because biosimilar medicines are not identical to their
original biologics, a patient could react differently to them. To accurately
diagnose patients, doctors want to know exactly what biological drug is
dispensed to their patients at the pharmacy. The Missouri Pharmacy Practice Act
is being updated to require that prescribers and pharmacists work together to
ensure patient records contain exactly what has been prescribed. In order to
alleviate the wait time on receiving these prescriptions, this information
would not have to be shared until after the prescription is dispensed. Biosimilar
medicines would expand the potential patient pool for these treatments
exponentially.
Like generic substitutions for prescription pills, these
medicines would save patients money while still getting them quality medicines
they need. Having established a safe alternative to biologic medicines, the
reduction in costs for patients is in the billions. The Rand Corporation
projects a reduction of $44.2 billion in spending on brand name biologics
between 2014 and 2024. More locally in Missouri, the passage of House Bill 1366
& House Bill 1878 is conservatively estimated to save taxpayers $5.5
million in FY2018, $12.1 million in FY2019 and even more in the future.
Biologic medicines are one of the great recent innovations
in the medical field. With the legislation passed from the Missouri House, our
state will stay ahead of improvements in medicine as they come in the future. One
Democrat on the House floor described the bill as a unicorn bill, one of the
mythical few that everyone can get behind. The stakeholders of these
medications worked for the past three years to find language that would enable
the pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists, insurance groups, physicians and
most importantly the patient groups to come together and remove the barriers to
life-saving medications facing many chronically and critically ill
patients. I enjoyed working with
Representative Solon to ensure bipartisan support of this legislation. Missouri
is leading the way on giving taxpayers affordable, high quality medicine and we
are proud of it.
