Coherus Announces Lowest Price for Humira Biosimilar, Partners with Mark Cuban Cost Plus

Coherus BioSciences said it will launch its Humira biosimlar Yusimry (adalimumab-aqvh) at the lowest list price for any Humira biosimilar.

Coherus will launch Yusimry in July with a list price of $995 per carton (2 x 40 mg/0.8 mL autoinjectors); “the lowest price announced to date of any adalimumab offering in the United States,” the company said. “With Humira currently priced at $6,922 per carton of two autoinjectors, the Yusimry price will represent about an 85% discount from the originator.”

Additionally, Coherus said the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company plans to offer Yusimry to its customers at a price of $569.27 plus dispensing and shipping fees starting in July. Yusimry will also be included in the Team Cuban Card (teamcubancard.com) prescription benefit program through participating pharmacies.

Yusimry, approved by the FDA in 2021, is a tumor necrosis factor (“TNF”) blocker to treat rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, and to treat Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa.

The price of Humira has increased more than 500% since it was first launched in the U.S. in 2003 at $13,572 per year, now at nearly $90,000, according to Coherus. Meanwhile, the annual cost of Yusimry will be approximately $13,000. More than 300,000 U.S. patients take Humira each year, and the medication netted U.S. revenues of $18 billion in 2022.

“Our Yusimry list price is a clear response to the challenges and needs of patients faced with high-cost adalimumab treatments today,” said Denny Lanfear, Coherus CEO. “We believe there is a large, unmet need for improved access and affordability in the U.S. health care system that Yusimry can address with this pricing.”

Coherus’s “excellence in manufacturing and supply chain management gives us the ability to deliver safe and effective biosimilar adalimumab at low cost with ensured, reliable supply,” Lanfear added.

“We believe that Yusimry can be an affordable solution for patients who are uninsured, underinsured, or recently separated from Medicaid coverage, who experience the most difficult financial health challenges,” said Chris Slavinsky, chief business officer of Coherus. “We also believe that employers and the employees on their health plans can experience significant savings by selecting Yusimry when it becomes available in July.”

Slavinsky said that no purchase orders for Yusimry will be accepted until July.

Meanwhile, Mark Cuban Cost Plus opted to partner with Coherus because “Humira is the top-selling medicine of all time, but for those without insurance or who are underinsured, this therapy and other biologic medicines have been out of reach due to price,” said Alex Oshmyansky, co-founder and CEO of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. "Working with Coherus, a pioneer in the field of biosimilars, we are excited to disrupt the high-cost biologic space by offering Yusimry, a biosimilar of Humira, one of the highest cost drugs in America.”

"Cost Plus Drugs is saving patients hundreds and thousands of dollars a month by pricing our medications fairly at our cost plus 15%,” said Mark Cuban, the company’s co-founder. “Adding Yusimry, a biosimilar of Humira, to Cost Plus Drugs will extend these savings to biologics. This is just our first step in making biologics affordable for patients.”

Amgen launched the first of the highly anticipated biosimilars Humira in January. Amgen said at the time it is making Amjevita (adalimumab-atto) available with two pricing options. The first is a 5% below the current Humira price of $6,922 for a four-week supply, while the second is 55% below the current Humira list price.