13 July, 2021
Questions and Answers on Biosimilars
- Biosimilars are biological medicines that are highly similar in all essential aspects to an already approved (reference) biological medicine and have gone through a robust authorisation process to demonstrate therapeutic equivalence
- Under the supervision of a physician, biosimilars can be used interchangeably with the reference medicine or with other biosimilars of that reference medicine
- All biological medicines must be prescribed by brand name rather than by International Nonproprietary Name (INN) for traceability and to avoid inadvertent substitution
- There are an increasing number of patients being prescribed a biosimilar e.g. the best-value biological medicines for adalimumab and etanercept. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years.