Rheumatology

The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), a professional organization that represents over 21,000 hospital pharmacists in 35 European countries, recently released a position paper on biosimilar medicines.

A retrospective study using a large US claims database of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis suggests that extensive above-label use of etanercept, adalimumab, and ustekinumab occurs in many patients who take these biologics, and leads to higher costs.

Treatment strategies involving anti-tumor necrosis factor dose tapering or withdrawal among rheumatoid arthritis patients who are achieving disease control are gaining popularity. Such strategies seek to optimize benefits versus risks with respect to both patient preferences and the high costs of biologic treatments.

Robert Cerwinski, JD, Partner at Goodwin, discusses the “big 3” biologics for inter partes review: Herceptin, Rituxan, and Humira.

A recently published study found that the auto-injector device used to deliver a biosimilar etanercept was preferable to the auto-injector device used to deliver reference etanercept (Enbrel) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthcare providers who treat patients with RA.

Cost-effectiveness evidence has come to play a prominent role in decisions regarding the approval of expensive biologic treatments, such as those for psoriatic arthritis (PA). However, cost-effectiveness evidence for PA treatments has been difficult to develop because of the lack of a robust evidence base.

Coherus BioSciences today announced positive topline results for the first of 3 pharmacokinetic bioequivalence studies comparing CHS-1420, an adalimumab biosimilar candidate, and European-sourced reference Humira.

The approval for adalimumab-adbm comes a year after the first adalimumab biosimilar, by Amgen, was approved in September of 2016.

Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen, announced that it has received the European Commission’s (EC) approval for its adalimumab biosimilar (Imraldi), referenced on AbbVie’s blockbuster Humira.

Marcus H. Snow, MD, Assistant Professor Rheumatology, University of Nebraska, discusses the recent launch of a new biosimilar infliximab, Renflexis, in the United States.

In 2014, Germany had the highest use of biosimilars in Europe, with around 50% volume uptake. Yet data found that German patients have shown some reluctance to accept biosimilars.

Marcus H. Snow, MD, Assistant Professor of Rheumatology, University of Nebraska, discusses the use of biosimilar treatments in children.