Evernorth to offer Stelara biosimilar at $0 out of pocket for patients early next year

Evernorth Health Services shared that it plans to have a Stelara biosimilar available for $0 out of pocket for eligible patients of its specialty pharmacy, Accredo, beginning in early 2025.

The interchangeable biosimilar will be produced for Evernorth’s affiliate private label distributor, Quallent Pharmaceuticals. It will be available for most patients through Quallent’s copay assistance program. This program is expected to save individual patients around $4,000 on average per year.

“We continue to believe in the power of biosimilars to achieve significant savings for patients and plan sponsors now and into the future. We’re already seeing strong interest in the Humira biosimilar made available to Accredo patients in June, and now we’re focused on improving affordability and access to another widely used, high-cost treatment for a variety of inflammatory conditions,” said Matt Perlberg, president of Evernorth Health Services’ pharmacy and care delivery businesses. “We are uniquely positioned to lower costs because of the leading capabilities we have in navigating the supply chain as well as the clinical expertise to help achieve the best patient health outcomes.”

The biosimilar price will be more than 80% lower than the list price of Stelara. For many employers, unions, municipalities and other health plan sponsors that choose to work with Accredo as part of their specialty pharmacy network offering, this represents an opportunity for significant savings, the company said.

[Read more: Prioritizing Lower-Priced Biosimilar Medications]

More than 30,000 Accredo patients use Stelara, supported by specialty-trained pharmacists and nurses in Accredo’s Therapeutic Resource Center for inflammatory conditions. Accredo’s 15 condition-specific Therapeutic Resource Centers connect patients with pharmacists and nurses 24 hours a day, sweven days a week, helping to ensure patients receive care from clinicians who specialize in their condition and who take the time to understand their circumstances.

In June, Evernorth made an interchangeable Humira biosimilar available, and more than 25% of eligible Accredo patients are now using the biosimilar.

[Read more: A new environment for biosimilars]