Pharmacists Impact on Biosimilar Adoption with special guest Sonia Oskouei, PharmD

As an innovative method to improve the affordability of costly biological therapies, there's new medication products being developed with the needed approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for biological products that are “highly similar” (biosimilar) to or interchangeable with traditional drug developed products. Biosimilars are not completely identical to the innovator product because of the large molecular size, complexity and proprietary nature of the manufacturing process, and inherent variability of all biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Sonia Oskouei, PharmD, BCMAS, DPLA is Vice President of Biosimilars at Cardinal Health. Sonia shares her experiences in the biosimilars sector of drug development and shares how we're entering these new therapeutic areas, with ophthalmology being the latest focus. Sonia explains how we need more information to help build clinical confidence in these agents. So, any type of data or evidence in understanding of the FDA approval pathway and the associated scientific rigor from the FDA is key to helping build clinical confidence. "Pharmacists are becoming more and more involved in the care team, particularly in oncology and in the health system setting. So, pharmacists often are partnering or leading with physicians to champion the education process associated with biosimilars, and that's multistakeholder education, both physicians, other pure pharmacists, and supporting patients and their journey. Pharmacists are also strong contributors to biosimilar adoption and management, particularly in the health system setting as a lead often for formulary decisions, P&T committee involvement, where they're looking not only at the clinical considerations of biosimilars but incorporating the economic and even operational considerations associated with these products, so understanding the complete picture and how best to optimize and leverage biosimilars within their institutions." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices