NHS saving £300m with Humira biosimilar deal

The NHS is to save £300 million after striking deals with several manufacturers of low cost biosimilars of AbbVie’s Humira inflammatory diseases drug. Before the deal, NHS England spent more on Humira (adalimumab) than any other drug, and the deal, which also included a cut-price bid from AbbVie, represents the biggest saving in history from a single drug negotiation. In a statement NHS England said the deal would pay for the equivalent of 11,700 more community nurses, or 19,800 breast cancer treatments. Humira went off patent last month, allowing a group of companies to market cut-price biosimilars that were already approved by European regulators.
The deal should mean hospitals pay around a quarter of the more than £400 million each year they currently spend on adalimumab, which is used to treat severe hospital treated conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis. NHS England, working with NHS Improvement, is on course to deliver its ambition to cut £300 million from the nation’s annual medicines bill by 2021 through using best value biologic medicines a year early.