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Survey: IBD specialists well informed, more confident about using biosimilars

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Inflammatory bowel disease specialists are generally well informed about biosimilars, and concerns regarding their use in clinical practice have decreased in recent years, according to survey results presented at the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization’s Congress.

Based on the results of a 2013 survey administered before infliximab biosimilars were introduced in Europe, “a minority of IBD specialists was aware and confident about the potential benefits and issues of biosimilars in IBD,” the researchers wrote.

To assess changes in the thinking about biosimilars among IBD specialists, the researchers developed a 13-question survey that was completed voluntarily and anonymously by 118 invited ECCO members.

Sixty percent of responders worked at a university hospital, 97% of whom worked as consultants, and of those, 60% had prescribed biosimilars in the past year. Seventeen percent of responders reported no access to biosimilars.

“Education about biosimilars was judged fair and adequate by 56% of physicians, and unneeded for 16% of them,” the researchers wrote. Moreover, 19.5% said they felt little or no confidence in using biosimilar monoclonal antibodies vs. 63% at the time of the last survey.

The main advantage of biosimilars was reduced costs for 92.4% of responders and 69% said immunogenicity was their main concern. Moreover, 30.5% said post-marketing pharmacovigilance was needed, 27% said well-designed randomized controlled trials were needed and 32.2% said further research on risk profiles was needed; these proportions were 30% to 40% lower compared with the 2013 survey.

Furthermore, 35% said biosimilars should have distinct International Nonproprietary Names vs. 66% at the time of the last survey. Most (89.8%) disagreed with automatic replacement of the originator with a biosimilar by a pharmacist, but 12.7% would support this substitution for new prescriptions.

Most (75%) also said medical societies should promote information about biosimilars, and many said collaborating with health institutions is less needed for developing rules on biosimilar use (47%), promoting guidelines (26%) and developing multidisciplinary safety registries (52%).

Many responders (44.4%) considered originator and biosimilar monoclonal antibodies interchangeable vs. 6% at the last survey, and 27.4% said they would switch to a biosimilar after informing their patient. Overall, 32.2% opposed extrapolation across indications and 25% opposed extrapolating data across IBD. – by Adam Leitenberger

Reference:

Danese S, et al. Abstract P312. Presented at: ECCO Congress; March 16-19, 2016. Amsterdam.

Disclosure: Healio Gastroenterology was unable to confirm Danese’s relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication. Please see the ECCO disclosures database for all other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.