The Biologic Problem: Employers Are Paying for a Brand, Not a Breakthrough

Skyrizi and Tremfya cost employers about $100,000 per patient a year. A Humira biosimilar used for the same conditions, psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, costs about $17,000. The results are close: in psoriatic arthritis, 60% of patients improve within six months on the newer drugs, compared with 57% on the biosimilar. Yet employer spending on these two drugs for these conditions more than doubled from 2022 to 2025.

The usual fixes fall short. Step therapy cuts these prescriptions by only two to five percentage points. Dropping the drugs from the formulary puts a plan's rebates at risk, and cheaper pharmacies are effectively off-limits. The decision that matters most sits with the doctor. Our research found that some doctors start patients on these drugs at nearly three times the rate of others.

In this session, Phil Salinger, Garner's Chief Research Officer, Kirk Czonstka, Garner's SVP of Enterprise Sales, and Michael Zucarelli, National Pharmacy Practice Leader at CBIZ, walk through Garner’s new whitepaper, The Biologic Problem: Employers Are Paying for a Brand, Not a Breakthrough. They'll cover who is actually driving the gap and the one lever still fully in an employer's control.

You'll leave knowing what these drugs are costing your plan and a practical way to lower biologic spend without restricting access. All registrants will receive a copy of the whitepaper.