Posted by Michael Wonder on 15 Jun 2020
Rising costs explain why Canada is switching to biosimilars
15 June 2020 - Following in the footsteps of British Columbia, other Canadian provinces are working to implement their own biosimilars initiatives that would switch patients from some of the most costly reference biologics to biosimilar counterparts.
A look at the numbers explains why Canadian provinces are introducing automatic biosimilar switching policies.
In Ontario, one of 4 provinces that are moving forward with forced switching, a total of $800,000 was spent on publicly funded biologic medications in 2018, up nearly 3-fold from $259.4 million in 2010, and the projection is for the total to reach $1 billion in 2021, according to a recent report.
