Real-world usage of bevacizumab-bvzr biosimilar in US oncology practice

Bevacizumab is commonly used to treat solid tumors. However, little is known about the manner and the extent to which bevacizumab biosimilars are utilized in real-world oncology practice in the United States. The objective of this study was to describe patient and provider characteristics and treatment patterns associated with the recently introduced bevacizumab-bvzr biosimilar.

Retrospective cohort study.

A retrospective analysis of medical and pharmacy claims between January 24, 2019, and July 31, 2020, was performed. Adult patients with at least 1 claim indicating usage of bevacizumab-bvzr were included. Patients who could not be assigned to an applicable diagnosis group were excluded. Index treatment date was defined as the date of the first claim for bevacizumab-bvzr. Descriptive analysis was conducted for all study variables.

A total of 206 patients were included; patients most often were 65 years or older (49.5%), were female (62.6%), and resided in the West (45.1%). The most common indications observed for bevacizumab-bvzr were metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC; 51.0%), cancer of the female genital organs (CFGO; 27.2%), glioblastoma (11.2%), and non-small cell lung cancer (8.7%). Overall, 72.4% and 48.2% of patients with mCRC and CFGO, respectively, had switched to bevacizumab-bvzr from the reference drug or another bevacizumab biosimilar. Bevacizumab-bvzr was used in chemotherapy combination regimens for patients with mCRC and CFGO.

Utilization was observed in extrapolated indications. Findings suggest that both switching between reference product and bevacizumab biosimilars and using bevacizumab-bvzr as part of chemotherapy combination regimens have been adopted in US oncology practice.