At a meeting called by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, stakeholders expressed their concerns on the issue of substitution of biological medicines with biosimilars.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Consumers Health Forum, Leanne Wells, said that at the meeting there was “a consistency in the concern and opposition from clinical and consumer groups concerning the ‘a’ flagging of biosimilars and substituting them at the pharmacy level.

“There was also consistency in the view that decisions to substitute should only be made in the context of the therapeutic doctor- patient relationship. We await with interest the response from the PBAC.

For more details, go to: https://www.chf.org.au/pdfs/chf/20150709-Biosimilars-concern-expressed-at-PBAC-meeting.pdf