Biosimilar Preferred Drug List Updates

North Carolina Medicaid Preferred Drug List (PDL) categorizes brand name medications including Humira, Stelara and Actemra as non-preferred. The following Food and Drug Administration-approved biosimilars and interchangeable biosimilars products (with prior authorization) are preferred medications on the NC Medicaid PDL.

Encouraging patients to use biosimilar products can save thousands of dollars per claim in the health care system while still providing high-quality, safe and effective medication to patients.

Proper name

Proprietary name

Interchangeable

Preferred

Non-preferred

Adalimumab-bwwd

Hadlima

 

 

 

Adalimumab-adbm (Boehringer-Ingelheim)

n/a

 

 

 

Adalimumab

Humira

 

 

 

Tocilizumab-aazg

Tyenne

 

 

 

Tocilizumab

Actemra

 

 

 

Ustekinumab-ttwe

Pyzchiva

 

 

 

Ustekinumab-hmny

Starjemza

 

 

 

Ustekinumab

Stelara

 

 

 

Please consider how you can educate patients on the value that statewide PDL-preferred biosimilar products provide. If you need a refresher on how biosimilar products compare to their reference counterparts, we've included some helpful links.

Resources