{"id":5547,"date":"2022-11-08T15:08:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T15:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdhf.staging.not4prod.com\/?p=5547"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:41:26","slug":"saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Changing in the Saskatchewan Coverage for Biologics?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative was announced on October 20, 2022, to improve the uptake of biosimilar drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.saskatchewan.ca\/residents\/health\/prescription-drug-plans-and-health-coverage\/extended-benefits-and-drug-plan\/biosimilars\">Government of Saskatchewan<\/a>&nbsp;is implementing some changes to their biologics coverage. By April 2023, patients who are already using a reference biologic with an available biosimilar version will be required to start using a biosimilar to keep their&nbsp;coverage under the Saskatchewan Drug Plan. This initiative follows similar efforts elsewhere in Canada namely British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Northwest Territories. Tens of thousands of Canadians have safely switched to a biosimilar in those initiatives. They are also used extensively in Europe, where countries have had over 15 years of experience with biosimilars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Patients will have until April 30, 2023 to talk to their healthcare provider to receive a new prescription for the biosimilar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Patients who receive coverage for a reference biologic will receive a letter from the Saskatchewan drug Plan regarding switching to a biosimilar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To switch to a biosimilar, you should:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Contact your health care provider<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.saskatchewan.ca\/residents\/health\/prescription-drug-plans-and-health-coverage\/extended-benefits-and-drug-plan\/biosimilars#list-of-drugs-affected\">list of drugs affected<\/a>&nbsp;to determine if you need to make the switch<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Receive a new prescription of the biosimilar version of your medication<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you receive additional medication coverage from a third-party insurance provider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your insurance provider may coordinate your benefits with the Saskatchewan Drug Plan<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contact your insurance provider with questions you may have about private coverage benefits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Are there exemptions to the switch?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some cases, patients may need to continue using the reference biologic for medical reasons. Exemptions to the initiative will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Health care providers can submit a request along with clinical information on behalf of their patient through the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.saskatchewan.ca\/residents\/health\/prescription-drug-plans-and-health-coverage\/extended-benefits-and-drug-plan\/biosimilars#prescriber-forms\">exemption request form<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saskatchewan.ca\/residents\/health\/prescription-drug-plans-and-health-coverage\/extended-benefits-and-drug-plan\/biosimilars#:~:text=The%20Saskatchewan%20Biosimilars%20Initiative%20was,safe%20and%20effective%20medication%20options.\">Learn more about the Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Changing in the Saskatchewan Coverage for Biologics? The Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative was announced on October 20, 2022, to improve the uptake of biosimilar drugs. The&nbsp;Government of Saskatchewan&nbsp;is implementing some changes to their biologics coverage. By April 2023, patients who are already using a reference biologic with an available biosimilar version will be required [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cdhf2022_sponsors_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[85,30],"class_list":["post-5547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-biologics-biosimilars","tag-policy"],"acf":{"article_writer":[101]},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/quebec-biosimilars.webp","author_info":{"display_name":"Kelsey Cheyne","author_link":"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/author\/kelsey-cheyne\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative - Canadian Digestive Health Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Saskatchewan biosimilars: learn about the province\u2019s biosimilar initiative, biologic switching, drug coverage, exemptions, and what patients should know.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative - Canadian Digestive Health Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saskatchewan biosimilars: learn about the province\u2019s biosimilar initiative, biologic switching, drug coverage, exemptions, and what patients should know.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Canadian Digestive Health Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CDHFdn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-08T15:08:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-10T13:41:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/quebec-biosimilars.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelsey Cheyne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheCDHF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheCDHF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelsey Cheyne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kelsey Cheyne\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/990293ff50f898caf38644b75a0105aa\"},\"headline\":\"Saskatchewan Biosimilars Initiative\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-08T15:08:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-10T13:41:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/\"},\"wordCount\":302,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/en\/saskatchewan-biosimilars-initiative\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdhf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/quebec-biosimilars.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Biologics &amp; 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