BSH 2017 | The regulation of biosimilars
Robert Marcus, MA, FRCP, FRCPath from King’s College Hospital, London, UK discusses the use of biosimilars at the 2017 British Society for Haematology (BSH) Annual Scientific Meeting in Brighton, UK. The use of generics is common and seen in all areas of oncological treatment, they are compounds that are an exact replica of the originator drug. On the other hand, biosimilars are not a replica of the original antibody, they are similar, and there is very little data regarding the impact of slight differences in molecular structure on efficacy. Fortunately, the regulations surrounding biosimilars are extremely strict and biosimilars are required to fulfil specific equivalency criteria before they can be licensed and released into the market. Moreover, the relative lower cost of biosimilars makes them extremely attractive over the originator biologic. This video has been supported by Napp Pharmaceuticals Ltd through an unrestricted educational grant to Magdalen Medical Publishing.
