Biosimilar drugs gain ground in U.S., but concerns linger about when patients can switch
It took years for Elle Moxley to get a diagnosis that explained her crippling gastrointestinal pain and digestion problems, fatigue and hot, red rashes. But even after learning in 2016 that she had Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, it took more than four years of trying different medications before she got her disease under control with a biologic drug called Remicade.
So Moxley, 33, was dismayed to receive a notice from her insurer in January that Remicade would no longer be covered as a preferred drug on her plan. A different drug, Inflectra, which the Food and Drug Administration says has no meaningful clinical differences from Remicade, is now preferred. It is a “biosimilar” drug.
