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ForwardPulse: Navigating the Biosimilar Maze
Right now, practice is still dealing with inconsistent biosimilar adoption across service lines, especially when products move between outpatient infusion centers and inpatient use, because selection is influenced as much by contracting/340B, payer rules, and operational workflow as by clinical evidence. At the same time, FDA’s evolving approach to interchangeability and substitution is creating confusion about what can be automatically switched, when prescriber approval is needed, and how to document it safely. These gaps drive avoidable provider/pharmacist burden (prior auth, formulary exceptions, EHR build, education, and inventory complexity) and can delay therapy or fragment care for agents like rituximab, tocilizumab, and eculizumab
Target Audience
Pharmacist
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the evolving FDA biosimilar landscape, including the recent shift toward broader interchangeability and implications for clinical practice.
2. Evaluate real-world implementation considerations affecting biosimilar adoption—comparing inpatient vs. outpatient selection drivers (financial and operational) and identifying key sources of provider and pharmacist burden.
3. Explain the clinical role and evidence base for monoclonal antibodies and immunomodulators in oncology and specialty care, including data supporting safety, efficacy, and switching for rituximab, tocilizumab, and eculizumab.
Additional Information
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Audience Disclosure slide_47.pptx | 460.84 KB |
 How to access credits - Code access.doc | 99.5 KB |
Right now, practice is still dealing with inconsistent biosimilar adoption across service lines, especially when products move between outpatient infusion centers and inpatient use, because selection is influenced as much by contracting/340B, payer rules, and operational workflow as by clinical evidence. At the same time, FDA’s evolving approach to interchangeability and substitution is creating confusion about what can be automatically switched, when prescriber approval is needed, and how to document it safely. These gaps drive avoidable provider/pharmacist burden (prior auth, formulary exceptions, EHR build, education, and inventory complexity) and can delay therapy or fragment care for agents like rituximab, tocilizumab, and eculizumab
Zahra Bandehyazdani, PharmD
In support of improving patient care, the University of Pittsburgh is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Pharmacy (CPE)
This knowledge-based activity provides 1.0 contact hours of continuing pharmacy education credit.
Available Credit
- 1.00 ACPE PharmacyThe UPMC Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a Provider of continuing pharmacy education.