Posted by Michael Wonder on 02 Aug 2018
NHS saved £324 million by switching to biosimilars and generics
2 August 2018 - The UK’s national healthcare provider saved £324 million by switching its patients to “better value” biosimilar and generic drugs, which are considered to be “equally effective alternatives”.
The biggest savings came from the swap to more cost-effective treatments for arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions. The NHS saved nearly £99.4 million by using Infliximab, the biosimilar version of Jannssen’s Remicade and £60 million by switching from Amgen/Pfizer’s Enbrel to Etanercept.
In addition two heavily used oncology drugs: generic imatinib mesylate and rituximab biosimilar contributed to a £117 million cost saving.
