House passes budget bill with biosimilars provisions

The House of Representatives passed a budget bill late Tuesday that includes two provisions that would affect market access to biosimilars.

The draft continuing resolution seeks to add biosimilars to the Medicare Part D coverage gap, or donut hole, discount program. This program requires drug manufacturers to provide discounts to Medicare beneficiaries when their costs exceed the Part D initial coverage limit and are less than the threshold for catastrophic coverage. CMS’s previous decision to exclude biosimilars from the discount program put biosimilars at a competitive disadvantage compared to manufacturers of original biologics. ...