Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41589765›Full record

ArticleClinical pharmacology and therapeutics2026

Measuring the Impact of the Substitution of Innovator Biologics With Biosimilars on Uptake and Costs Among Ontario Public Drug Benefit Recipients.

Anita Iacono, Martin K H Ho, Joanna Yang, Tonya Campbell, William Wynne, Dana Shearer, Lene Andersen, Eric Majer, Shaleesa Ledlie, Mina Tadrous and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Anita IaconoMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-1801-127X
Martin K H HoOntario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-5160-0776
Joanna YangOntario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Tonya CampbellMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-8459-208X
William WynneOntario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Dana ShearerMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0009-0000-8008-3974
Lene AndersenOntario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Eric MajerOntario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Shaleesa LedlieMAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-9928-7894
Mina Tadrous *Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-1911-6129
Tara Gomes *MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-1468-1965

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In Ontario, biologics have historically represented a small proportion of public drug claims but a large proportion of spending. Biosimilars, lower cost alternatives to biologics, offer a potential solution to the rising spending on biologics. From March 2023 to January 2024, the Ontario Ministry of Health required public drug program beneficiaries on eight innovator biologics to transition to biosimilars. Clinicians were reimbursed for supporting patients who transitioned. To evaluate the impact of this biosimilar switch policy, we conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using administrative data from April 2019 to June 2024. For the biologics (innovator and biosimilar) included in the policy, we reported the biosimilar market share, public drug program spending, and clinician support fees. We used interrupted time series analyses to evaluate the policy's impact, and forecasting to estimate drug cost savings. From March 2023 to June 2024, the percentage of affected individuals on biosimilars increased from 21.7% to 96.5%. Drug cost savings were $65.2 million between April 2023 to June 2024, with most savings attributed to non-insulin biosimilars. We estimated savings of $46.6 million in Year 1 (April 2023 to March 2024) and $95.9 million in Year 2 (April 2024 to March 2025). Clinician support fees totaled $3.4 million across the study period. Ontario's biosimilar policy achieved high biosimilar uptake and substantial cost savings. Future research should examine the impact of this policy on clinical outcomes to assess its broader implications for patient care and long-term sustainability.

Indexed as

Biological ProductsBiosimilar PharmaceuticalsDrug CostsDrug SubstitutionCost SavingsCross-Sectional StudiesHumansOntarioBiological ProductsBiosimilar Pharmaceuticals

Identifiers

PMID41589765
PMCPMC13156357

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.