Dr Sneha Sharma Discusses the Growing Roles of Biomarker Testing, Biosimilars

Biomarker testing is having growing importance to ensure that patients are started on the correct therapy for the best outcomes, said Sneha Sharma, PharmD, director, specialty clinical solutions, Magellan Rx.

Transcript

What role might genetic testing or the increasing number of approved companion diagnostics play to manage the escalating costs of oncology therapies?

So, genetic or biomarker testing is going to be critical moving forward, not only to manage costs—because we want to make sure that the patient is on the correct therapy, what their tumor mutations and their tumor looks like—it's also going to help for positive outcomes, which should also give us the correct duration of therapy, reduce side effects, and manage those types of adverse events that patients might have experienced otherwise that could defer them out of therapy because they were started on the wrong drug.

How are biosimilars currently fitting into strategies to manage costs in areas where biosimilars are approved?

Biosimilars are a great alternative to where we have brand name products or generic products to those. We're seeing biosimilar, or biobetter, strategies as a step through strategy. We're seeing biosimilars to be used first line, before we get to other drugs within the class. And the number of biosimilars that are getting approved yearly is great to see and have alternatives in care.