La diabetes It is a chronic disease that is triggered when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates the level of sugar, or glucose, in the blood), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
La Type 1 diabetes characterized by the absence of insulin synthesis, while the Type 2 diabetes It is caused by the body's inability to use insulin effectively, often as a result of being overweight or being physically inactive.
According to the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), 422 million adults worldwide had diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980. The WHO warns that the prevalence of this disease is increasing to the point that by 2030 diabetes would be the seventh leading cause of death in the world.
Only in Spain More than 13% of the population suffers from diabetes, which means that almost 5 million people live with it, of which more than 40% are still unaware that they have it.
The first biosimilar drug whose active ingredient is insulin received the 'green light' from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in September 2014. It is an insulin glargine, whose trade name is abasaglar, and that it was developed as a biosimilar of lantus. Abasaglar is a long-acting medicine that is a treatment option for adults, adolescents and children from 2 years of age with diabetes mellitus, which was marketed in Spain in the summer of 2015.
The biosimilar condition allows us to affirm that the efficacy and safety profile of abasaglar y lantus is equivalent, that they essentially share the same active substance and that both are used by the same route, at the same dose and, in this case, for the same indications.
The arrival of biosimilar it has generated competition in the market that has led to a reduction in the price of insulin glargine. This frees up resources from the healthcare system that could be allocated to other drugs or to the treatment of a larger number of patients.