NHS to save £300m in biosimilar adalimumab deals

The National Health Service (NHS) England is set to make record-breaking savings after negotiating deals with five manufacturers of low-cost biosimilar versions of the NHS's most expensive drug.

The deal, which was announced on Monday, November 26, by NHS England’s CEO Simon Stevens, should save hospitals around £300 million ($383 million), equating to three-quarters of what they currently spend on adalimumab.

Adalimumab is used to treat severe conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis.

More than 46,000 patients are being prescribed the drug today, available under the brand name Humira. However, AbbVie’s patent on Humira has recently expired, opening up the doorway for biosimilar versions.

NHS England accepted bids from four companies that manufacture biosimilar versions of the medicine—Amgen, Biogen, Mylan/Fujifilm Kyowa Kirin and Sandoz—in addition to the manufacturer of the originator medicine, AbbVie.

This expected saving is the biggest in NHS history from a single drug negotiation, according to Stevens, and biosimilar versions of adalimumab are expected to be available to NHS patients in December.

Stevens said: “Harnessing the power of competition between drug companies, NHS England has now freed up hundreds of millions of pounds of savings to reinvest in patient care. By working with patients and frontline clinicians, we’ve now successfully negotiated the biggest ever set of savings on what was the NHS’s most costly drug.”

In 2016/17, NHS England spent £18.2 billion on medicines, an increase of more than one third since 2010/11. However, in 2017/18, NHS England saved over £200 million by using best value biologics.

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