Samsung Bioepis and Organon's Humira biosimilar, Hadlima, has been added to the value, advantage, and total savings formularies for Cigna Pharmacy Management, which is under Cigna Healthcare a major U.S. insurer.

According to Cigna, it plans to add low and high-concentration formulations of Hadlima to Cigna's list of preferred drugs from Sep. 1.

This marks the first time Hadlima has entered the list of preferred drugs of a major U.S. insurer.

Cigna will also add three biosimilar versions of Humira – two of Sandoz's biosimilars and one from Boehringer Ingelheim -- to its list of preferred drugs.

Express Scripts, one of the top three U.S. pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) owned by Cigna, will also add the drugs to its main formulary.

PBMs specialize in prescription drug management and have contracts with various insurers to manage drug costs, select and maintain drug lists, review and pay drug claims, and receive management fees and rebates from pharmaceutical companies in return.

In the U.S. drug market, PBMs, which act as middlemen for U.S. health insurers, play a key role in drug distribution.

PBMs create a formulary of drugs that are eligible for coverage, which is then selected by insurers, and prescription drugs like Humira have a hard time being prescribed unless they're registered with a PBM.

According to industry watchers, this is why it is important to be listed on as many PBMs as possible. As of 2022, three PBMs (CVS/Caremark, Cigna/Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth/OptumRx) account for approximately 80 percent of the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, Celltrion, which has launched its Humira biosimilar Yuflyma, has yet to be listed with the top three PBMs.