House Education Committee approves pharmacy, medical formulary updates; adds Stelara biosimilars
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Summary
The House Education Committee reviewed and approved updates to the pharmacy and medical formularies, including the addition of several biosimilars for the biologic drug Stelara, officials said.
Grant Wallace, director of the Employee Benefits Division, told the House Education Committee that the first two agenda items were routine formulary reviews and recommended moving lower-cost biosimilars for Stelara onto the state pharmacy and medical drug formularies.
Wallace said the pharmacy formulary update (exhibit C‑1) lists Yaxentik and three additional products as biosimilars to Stelara and that the change is expected to take effect around June 1. He also described a coordinated change on the medical side: the same biologic products begin in clinical infusion form and then transition to pharmacy coverage, so the committee is updating both formularies to ensure coverage continuity.
The committee considered the pharmacy formulary (agenda item 1) and the medical drug recommendations (agenda item 2). Both items were reviewed and recorded as approved without objection during the meeting. No members asked substantive questions about specific non‑Stelara entries; Wallace described the rest of the listings as routine reviews or exclusions of new‑to‑market drugs.
Members did not request further study or amendments. The committee moved on to a separate contract item after recording the approvals.
The approvals affect how the state will cover infusion‑administered products in clinical settings and the same products when dispensed through pharmacies, according to Wallace.