Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
New class of generic drugs could jeopardise patient safety - posted on June 19, 2015
http://arthritisnsw.org.au/new-class-of-generic-drugs-could-jeopardise-patient-safety/
Health Minister Sussan Ley and the Federal Government are pushing to allow chemists to dispense cheaper versions of biologic drugs, despite warnings from consumer groups and pharmacy companies that patient safety could be compromised.
Biologic medicines which use living organisms to deliver therapeutic treatments have become increasingly popular in the last decade to treat conditions like arthritis.
Biosimilar medicines are not exactly the same as the biologics they replace because it is not possible to make an exact copy of a medicine made from living organisms.
Our CEO recently wrote to the Health Minister about the need for more clinical evidence on the safety and effectiveness of patients switching between a biologic and a biosimilar, however a response is yet to be received.
We dont believe this move is in the best interest of our members, the CEO said. Its becoming increasingly obvious that for the sake of saving money the government is willing to bypass best practice when it comes to patient safety.
Until we have more clinical evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of switching, people who are already receiving a biologic medication should not be switched at the pharmacy to the biosimilar version.We believe that patients and their prescribing doctor need to make an informed decision.We welcome new drugs with the potential to reduce health system costs but any new medication needs to be treated with caution.
A Senate inquiry investigating the Governments overhaul of drug pricing and latest community pharmacy agreement yesterday heard concerns from the pharmaceutical industry.
Medicines Australias chief executive said more research was needed and told a Senate committee the move was out of step with the rest of the world.
Our concern is what is the evidence base, the decision making process, the mechanism by which that substitution is going to be assured to be safe and in the interests of patients, he said.
Consumers Health Forum policy manager agreed the introduction of biosimilars to Australia is premature.
Weve had a number of representations from people whove taken a long time to get onto an effective biologic and Im worried theyll have to switch to a biosimilar and theyre not sure of the effect, she said.
We want to hear from our members and other arthritis patients in the community who are currently receiving biologic medication:
http://arthritisnsw.org.au/new-class-of-generic-drugs-could-jeopardise-patient-safety/
Health Minister Sussan Ley and the Federal Government are pushing to allow chemists to dispense cheaper versions of biologic drugs, despite warnings from consumer groups and pharmacy companies that patient safety could be compromised.
Biologic medicines which use living organisms to deliver therapeutic treatments have become increasingly popular in the last decade to treat conditions like arthritis.
Biosimilar medicines are not exactly the same as the biologics they replace because it is not possible to make an exact copy of a medicine made from living organisms.
Our CEO recently wrote to the Health Minister about the need for more clinical evidence on the safety and effectiveness of patients switching between a biologic and a biosimilar, however a response is yet to be received.
We dont believe this move is in the best interest of our members, the CEO said. Its becoming increasingly obvious that for the sake of saving money the government is willing to bypass best practice when it comes to patient safety.
Until we have more clinical evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of switching, people who are already receiving a biologic medication should not be switched at the pharmacy to the biosimilar version.We believe that patients and their prescribing doctor need to make an informed decision.We welcome new drugs with the potential to reduce health system costs but any new medication needs to be treated with caution.
A Senate inquiry investigating the Governments overhaul of drug pricing and latest community pharmacy agreement yesterday heard concerns from the pharmaceutical industry.
Medicines Australias chief executive said more research was needed and told a Senate committee the move was out of step with the rest of the world.
Our concern is what is the evidence base, the decision making process, the mechanism by which that substitution is going to be assured to be safe and in the interests of patients, he said.
Consumers Health Forum policy manager agreed the introduction of biosimilars to Australia is premature.
Weve had a number of representations from people whove taken a long time to get onto an effective biologic and Im worried theyll have to switch to a biosimilar and theyre not sure of the effect, she said.
We want to hear from our members and other arthritis patients in the community who are currently receiving biologic medication:
I'm in Australia and this was from Arthritis NSW, I'm not sure of the protocol in America/Canada/England but, here, on every script is a box Brand Substitution not permitted which the doctor can tick. It costs a few dollars extra for the "real thing" but you don't have to take the generic. I know the actual composition of the meds are the same but sometimes the fillers are not the same. with my history of allergic reactions and side effects, I feel safer staying with the non-generic meds. I did read your post in the other thread.
It said that the biosimilars have slightly different molecules, and may mean they don't work as well. This is specifically for the large chain biologics.
There is hope that the small chain biologics like Xeljanz may be effect in biosimilars. They are not as complex to reproduce apparently.