Biosimilars Canada, a national association representing Canada’s biosimilar medicines industry, today congratulated the Government of British Columbia for building on the success of its biosimilar switching program and called on other provinces to implement similar programs.
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TORONTO, Sept. 6, 2019 /CNW/ - Biosimilars Canada, a national association representing Canada's biosimilar medicines industry, today congratulated the Government of British Columbia for building on the success of its biosimilar switching program and called on other provinces to implement similar programs. Under the second phase of its biosimilar switching program BC PharmaCare will require patients taking the originator Remicade® infliximab product for the treatment of Crohns and colitis to be "switched" or transitioned by their clinicians to an infliximab biosimilar within a six-month period. "The decision of the Government of British Columbia to expand its biosimilar switching initiative demonstrates continued confidence in biosimilars as a way to manage costs and fund the expansion of patient drug coverage while supporting positive patient outcomes," said Michel Robidoux, Chair of Biosimilars Canada and President and General Manager of Sandoz Canada. "Switching to biosimilar treatments is the responsible choice for drug programs, and it is time for other provinces to bring the benefits of biosimilar switching programs to their patients, health care providers and taxpayers," said Jim Keon, President of Biosimilars Canada. "Health Canada is clear in its position that patients and health care providers can have confidence in switching from original biologic treatments to their corresponding biosimilar biologic medicines." On August 23, 2019 Health Canada published a new Fact Sheet which confirms the safety and efficacy of switching to biosimilar treatments. It states: "In the context of biosimilar use, Health Canada considers switching between authorized products to refer to a change from routine use of one specific product to routine use of another specific product. Biosimilars are authorized by Health Canada for the indications listed in the Product Monograph. Patients and health care providers can have confidence that biosimilars are effective and safe for each of their authorized indications. No differences are expected in efficacy and safety following a change in routine use between a biosimilar and its reference biologic drug in an authorized indication."1 While the use of biosimilar medicines has been well-established in Europe with more than 700 million patient days of use over the past decade, the uptake of these medicines in Canada for chronic treatments has been much slower as public and private payers, with few exceptions, have not actively implemented policy levers to support their use beyond naïve or new patients. About Biosimilar Medicines2 About Biosimilars Canada
SOURCE Biosimilars Canada |
