The generic medicines employers EGA (European Generic medicines Association) and AESEG (Spanish Association of Generic Medicines) have presented this week in Madrid the study Factors Supporting a Sustainable European Biosimilar Medicines Market Prepared by the consultancy GfK. The presentation of the study took place within the framework of the XX Annual Congress of the European employers' association EGA, which this year is being held in Spain. According to this study, the Biosimilar medicines present great benefits and opportunities for doctors, patients, paying agencies and industry, in addition to favoring and increasing access to biological medicines and promoting pharmaceutical innovation. This was explained by several international experts during the workshop Sustainability of the Biosimilars Market, organized by the employers' association AESEG in collaboration with its European counterpart EGA in Madrid. Biosimilar medicines, which They are not generic medicines, they offer the same guarantees of quality, safety and efficacy as their reference products. and allow access for a greater number of patients to quality biological treatments, contributing to the sustainability of European healthcare systems.
Among the main conclusions of the study promoted by the European Group of Biosimilars (EGB) of the employers' association EGA and based on the contributions of 71 experts from 7 European countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom), there is the need to develop an information and training policy, the advisability of publicizing the therapeutic experience with these products and encouraging their use through transparent policies in which the prescribing physicians and other actors in the health system participate, as well as the need to have specific regulations for biosimilar drugs in the environment European.
For his part, the CEO of the employers' association EGA, Adrian van den Hoven, pointed out during the conference that, according to the GfK study, “It is possible to achieve a sustainable European market for biosimilar medicines through aligned policies that guarantee the access of European patients to essential biological treatments, contributing in turn to the sustainability of European health systems, stimulating competition and innovation in the pharmaceutical market”.
Biosimilar medicines: increase training and information
In turn, the Professor Fernando de Mora from the Department of Pharmacology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and an international expert in biosimilar medicines, highlighted that the organization of training and information forums to and from health administrations"It should be an essential step to consolidate knowledge of the biosimilar drug in Spain, knowledge that will undoubtedly result in greater use for the benefit of patients." De Mora further stressed that "Biosimilar medicines are not the same as generic medicines and therefore there is a big difference in their development process and costs and in how they are used by healthcare professionals”.
As explained by the general director of the employers' association AESEG, Angel Luis Rodriguez de la Cuerda, “biosimilar medicines represent a paradigm shift in Spain and the health administration must promote information policies that help doctors and patients understand the scientific support that supports and guarantees them”. In this sense, the AESEG employers will contribute to train and inform doctors through the creation of an annual discussion forum on biosimilar medicines aimed at doctors themselves, which will include the voices of medical associations and the administration. In addition, AESEG will contribute to the health administrations of the Autonomous Communities to transfer regulatory and scientific information on biosimilar medicines to the hospital centers under its jurisdiction.