Recently, Louis Tharp, the cofounder and executive director of the patient advocacy organization the Global Healthy Living Foundation, visited our studios in New Jersey to talk about how high drug costs impact patients with rheumatic diseases, and how biosimilars can be part of the solution. What follows is a portion of our discussion about biologics, biosimilars, and the patient's viewpoint.

Among the great promises of biosimilar therapies is their ability to not only reduce costs for patients and healthcare systems, but to make room in budgets for spending on other high-cost drugs, especially in treating cancer.  This week on “Not So Different,” our guest is Ali McBride, PharmD, MS, BCPS. McBride is pharmacist who serves as the Clinical Coordinator for Hematology and Oncology at The University of Arizona Cancer Center. He’s also the lead author of a recent study that showed that using biosimilar filgrastim can expand patients’ access to treatment with obinutuzumab.

This week on the podcast, we’re pleased to welcome our guest, Leigh Purvis, MPA. Purvis is the director of health services research at AARP’s public policy institute. Her work focuses on a variety of prescription drug and mental health-related issue, with an emphasis on prescription drug pricing, biologic drugs, and prescription drug coverage under Medicare.  Purvis joined us by phone to talk about the challenges that Medicare beneficiaries face with respect to obtaining and paying for their biologic drugs, and about the policies that AARP hopes to see implemented in the days ahead.

This week, we're delving into the world of supportive care and anticancer biosimilars with an oncology expert, Robert M. Rifkin, MD, FACP.

Today, we're talking about state-level legislation concerning the substitution of interchangeable biosimilars, and how 1 specific piece of biosimilars-focused legislation led to the formation of the Nebraska Rheumatology Society. Our guest this week is Marcus Snow, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and assistant professor of rheumatology at the University of Nebraska. 

Episode 5: Policy and Biosimilars by The Center for Biosimilars

Episode 4: Creating a Vibrant Biosimilars Market by The Center for Biosimilars

Episode 3: Pricing by The Center for Biosimilars

Episode 2: Nonmedical Switching by The Center for Biosimilars

Episode 1: Interchangeability by The Center for Biosimilars