Submitted to the Editor - Denver Post

February 13, 2013

To The Editor:

Re: “Colorado consumers lose in drug bill moving ahead, opponents say” (Feb. 13)

In a win for patient safety in Colorado, the bill passed in committee by a 10-1 vote. The article did not share that the intent of the legislation was to ensure physicians are informed about the actual product dispensed to the patient when different from the one prescribed.

The article omits that the legislation would create, not restrict, biosimilar substitution for those biosimilars FDA deems interchangeable per U.S. law. Biosimilar substitution is not addressed in current Colorado law. Payers’ ability to favor less-costly biosimilars through benefit structures would be unaffected.

The article includes that informing doctors after-the-fact of substitutions is critical to patient safety; it misses, per our testimony, that we plan to commercialize biosimilars. We do not support legislation or measures to constrain biosimilars uptake.

Gustavo Grampp, Ph.D.
Director, Amgen Research & Development
Longmont, CO