Following decades of patent litigation and maneuvering, the first biosimilar to Humira is now available with many more to follow this year. Humira is a popular biologic drug used to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. It's the world's all-time top-selling drug in terms of revenue, with an average annual cost of about $80,000 per patient. Employers, brokers and TPAs are all wondering, how will Humira biosimilars impact health care costs?

There has been a lot of buzz over anticipated cost savings from biosimilars. However, those savings may be realized more gradually than many expect. Employers, brokers and TPAs need to calibrate their expectations for how Humira biosimilars will impact the cost of prescription drugs for groups and members as part of a comprehensive cost-containment strategy.

What are biosimilars?

Biosimilars are biological products that are highly similar to an existing FDA-approved biologic, often referred to as the reference product, like Humira. Prior to FDA approval as a biosimilar, a biologic product must demonstrate there are no clinical meaningful differences to the reference product.