Vizient to Present at FDA/FTC Workshop on a Competitive Marketplace for Biosimilars

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizient, Inc. announces it will participate in today’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Workshop on a Competitive Marketplace for Biosimilars in Silver Spring, Maryland. The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the FDA’s White Oak Campus.

The collaborative effort between the two federal agencies aims to encourage appropriate adoption of biosimilar medications and discourage false or misleading statements about these medications as well as deter anticompetitive behaviors in the biologic medication marketplace.

Steven Lucio, PharmD, BCPS, vice president of pharmacy solutions for Vizient, will speak during the public comments portion of the event. Lucio has written extensively on biosimilars, including authoring “Biosimilars and Biologics: Implementation and Monitoring in a Healthcare Setting” published in 2018, and has been quoted in numerous publications about the benefits they bring to health care.

Lucio’s comments today will focus on insights to help advance competition and transparency as related to the regulatory approval process, including eliminating comparative effectiveness studies where clinically justified and increasing access to FDA approval documents for the education of pharmacists and physicians. His comments will also address challenges associated with variable payer coverage and reimbursement decisions.

“We appreciate this collaborative effort by the FDA and FTC to increase awareness and education of biosimilar medications in the marketplace,” said Lucio. “The advancement of biosimilars in health care will create more competition, lower pharmaceutical expenditures for health care providers and, ultimately, lower costs for patients. We commend this effort.”

Vizient is the largest member-driven performance improvement company in the country. Its diverse membership and customer base includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community hospitals, integrated health delivery networks and nonacute health care providers.

About Vizient, Inc.

Vizient, Inc. provides solutions and services that improve the delivery of high-value care by aligning cost, quality and market performance for more than 50% of the nation’s acute care providers, which includes 95% of the nation’s academic medical centers, and more than 20% of ambulatory providers. Vizient provides expertise, analytics and advisory services, as well as a contract portfolio that represents more than $100 billion in annual purchasing volume, to improve patient outcomes and lower costs. Vizient has earned a World’s Most Ethical Company designation from the Ethisphere Institute every year since its inception. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at www.vizientinc.com.