Biosimilars are a type of biological therapy thought to work similarly to an original biologic treatment. The similarity allows the people using actual biologic agents to easily switch to cheaper biosimilar products with no complications. Biosimilar is a term that was derived from a similar biological, medical product (Tieu et al., 2018).
| Health-related Bill Name | Advancing Education on Biosimilars Act of 2021 |
| Bill Number | S. 164 |
| Description | This Bill is an act to educate the public together with healthcare providers on biosimilar biological products and for other purposes. |
| Federal or State? | Federal |
| Legislative Intent | This Bill intends to explain the process of reporting adverse events for biological products that include integrable biosimilar biological products.
The legislation also intends to explain the relationship between biosimilar biological products and interchangeable biosimilar biological products (GovTrack.us., 2021). |
| Proponents/ Opponents | Proponents: Health care providers, patients, and the caregivers. |
| Opponents: No opponents | |
| Target Population | The whole population of the United States both patients and healthcare professionals. |
| Status of the bill (Is it in hearings or committees?) | The bill passed in the Senate on March 3, 2021, and is now heading to Congress next for consideration. |
| General Notes/Comments | After the bill is passed by both the House and Senate, the president shall sign it to become law. The bill is sponsored by Maggie Hassan, a democrat and senator for New Hampshire (GovTrack.us., 2021). |
Advocating for the bill I selected, I support its enaction into laws because of biosimilars’ benefits. The law shall offer opportunities to the general public that help reduce their health care costs as they uphold their standards of treatment. Furthermore, biosimilars reduce the savings in the health care system as a whole in comparison to a biologic (Milstead, 2019). However, the valuation of the savings of an individual majorly depends on the type of insurance coverage.
In conclusion, this bill may lack opponents to oppose it because most of the population lacks knowledge on what it entails. Educating the general public about being enacted under the law shall boost the necessary experience for the people to embrace this kind of therapy.
GovTrack.us. (2021). S. 164 — 117th Congress: Advancing Education on Biosimilars Act of 2021. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/s164
Milstead, J. A. (Ed.). (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Tieu, C., Lucas, E. J., DePaola, M., Rosman, L., & Alexander, G. C. (2018). Efficacy and safety of biosimilar insulins compared to their reference products: A systematic review. PloS one, 13(4), e0195012.
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