Posted by Michael Wonder on 06 Jun 2019
Patients, physicians raise concerns with BC biosimilar non-medical switching policy
6 June 2019 - On 27 May, the Government of British Columbia announced a policy that will forcibly switch thousands of patients with serious, chronic conditions from their current biologic medicines to lower-cost "biosimilar" treatments, effective 25 November 2019 .
The roughly 23,000 patients who will be affected include those with rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, diabetes, Crohn's Disease, and ulcerative colitis.
The announcement raises concerns among patients and physicians, according to the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines, an international organisation of patient advocates, physicians, and manufacturers of both biosimilars and originator products.
