Pfizer Sees Rebate Issue Blocking Biosimilar Use

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourta says that payers are trapped and can’t cover biosimilars because they would lose the benefit of rebates offered by the innovator companies. “Unless we resolve this big issue,” he said on a third quarter conference call, “we will never be able to see tremendous progress on biosimilars.” Biopharma Reporter says in an online post that Pfizer has been at the forefront of efforts to reform rebates, even filing a 2017 suit accusing Johnson & Johnson of using anti-competitive practices to insulate its Remicade (infliximab) from the threat of the Pfizer biosimilar Inflectra. The suit is still pending.

On the call, Bourta said he thinks politicians are becoming aware of the issue. “This is something that we are very vocal about,” he is quoted as saying. “This is something that we are discussing constantly with payers, who want to move to new solutions but cannot. And I think that there is positive momentum.”