Biosimilars in Europe: Expanding Access and Reducing Costs
Biosimilars are indeed cheaper versions of original biologic drugs and have been embraced the European countries as a strategy to making available affordable lifesaving treatments while at the same time taming the expenses. Therefore, their use continues even though there are such regulations and market limitations especially in the oncology application, where affordable and quality treatments are expected to be available in the future of a growing health industry.
Introduction:
The use of biosimilars as a part of modern health care systems is also fairly important, especially in the context of the European Union, as they can enhance the availability of the required treatments and reduce the costs of the health care sector. As biologic medicines are recognized as first-line treatments for critical illnesses such as cancer, auto-immune diseases and rheumatoid arthritis, biosimilars ensure that those affected patient groups would receive the necessary therapeutic agents.
Biosimilars are therapeutic products that have characteristics that can differentiate them from full biologic medicines known as Reference Products. It is important to understand that biosimilars are not like the simple chemical drugs, which are normally off brand versions of the original branded drugs but biosimilars are nearly identical to the biologics. Biologics can be described from a molecular perspective and defined as being large and complex structures derived from a living organism and hence cannot be copied the same way as the small molecules. However, in biosimilar development and during the course of its approval, the biosimilar can only proceed to the safety, efficacy, and quality evaluation of the referenced biologic.
The Rise of Biosimilars in Europe
Biosimilars are well established in Europe and the region is at the forefront of their use globally. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also described in a more detailed manner how it monitors the approval of such treatments so as to guarantee that those with biosimilars are both high quality and safe, effective treatments. Since the first commercial launch of biosimilar in Europe in 2006, the market has been growing steadily, and there are more than 60 biosimilars approved by EMA by 2023.
The European health care systems have embraced biosimilars more because the use of the biologic products is expensive. This justifies because biosimilars has an impact on competition in the market of pharma because they are cheaper and they are affordable compared to original biologic products.
Expanding Access to Life-Saving Therapies
Undoubtedly, the most substantial advantage of biosimilars is making valuable or, at least, essential, drugs accessible to a significantly larger population of consumers. Most biologic drugs are very costly due to production challenges and this makes the drug unavailable for most patients. Biosimilars, which are comparably less expensive than the reference biologics, afford an opportunity to healthcare to facilitate the availability of the same quality biologics to more clientele.
However, biosimilars have particularly been effective in oncology, an area of medicine where costly biologic drugs are much used in the treatment of cancer. Hence, through obtaining the biosimilar versions, wider accessibility of these therapies can be achieved without compromising the quality of therapy. It is increasingly important in Europe mainly due to the constantly progressing population aging as well as an increased rate of chronic diseases that need cost-effective treatments and solutions.
Learn more about BIOSIMILARS IN EUROPE: https://www.pharmafocuseurope.com/articles/biosimilars-in-europe-expanding-access-and-reducing-costs
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