Posted by Michael Wonder on 17 Aug 2020
Irish pharmacists lobby for biosimilar substitution
17 August 2020 - Pharmacists in Ireland say the country is losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in savings owing to the absence of a biosimilar substitution policy.
The problem of slow biosimilar uptake is not unique to the United States. The Emerald Isle is suffering the lack of these agents, according to the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU).
The group has called upon Republic of Ireland Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to bring about a change in legislation that would enable pharmacists to fill prescriptions with lower-cost biosimilars instead of originator brands, calling a policy such as this “the fastest and most effective way to ensure a rapid and meaningful increase in the use of biosimilars.”
