The entrance of the biosimilars in the Spanish hospital pharmaceutical market, it has generated a notable decrease in the cost of biological treatments for which the original version and the biosimilar exist. By their very nature, it is evident that the commercialization of biosimilars should contribute to the containment of healthcare costs, since they are equivalent to the original biologics but at a lower price. It may happen that the original itself decreases in price before the launch of biosimilars. For example, according to data from the Community of Madrid Pharmacy Information System, this decrease has reached more than 40%.
The reduction in the price of the biologic therefore allows access to more patients than National Health System (SNS) to this type of treatment at the same cost. It has also allowed in certain cases to optimize therapeutic protocols. But the contribution of biosimilars to increasing the efficiency of the SNS goes further.
Biosimilars help foster innovation. Through two procedures (1) the resources freed up by the discount in the market make it possible to address treatment with new, higher-cost drugs and (2) the commercial "threat" that biosimilars pose to original companies, which encourages and accelerates research into innovative companies faced with the expiration of patents and the loss of income, in such a way that companies are forced to focus their efforts on the research of molecules that represent therapeutic advances.
Por último, la biosimilarity It is not at odds with innovation, and there is already a biosimilar medicine on the market with advances or positive changes for patients in the self-administration device. Devices whose ultimate purpose is the saving.
Therefore, the positive effects on the SNS, and therefore on patients, of the arrival of biosimilars are not limited to the possibility of saving. Despite all this, the adoption and prescription of biosimilars is still low in Spain. The incorporation of biosimilars into clinical practice should be favored in a transparent manner and for this it is necessary to implement national and international strategies that encourage their use and create an attractive scenario for business investment.
