October 1, 2019
September 30, 2019 – Barcelona, Spain – The Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines (ASBM) this week shared preliminary findings from a survey of 575 biologic prescribers in six Western European countries, covering several key policy issues including biosimilar substitution practices, adverse event reporting, and government tendering criteria. Since 2010, the group has routinely surveyed physicians […]
September 23, 2019
Biosimilars Working Group Responds to Phase II of the BC PharmaCare Biosimilars Initiative VANCOUVER, BC – Wednesday, September 18, 2019. On September 5, 2019, the BC government announced phase two of its Biosimilars Initiative, informing patients prescribed the originator biologic drug, Remicade® (infliximab), to treat inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis) that this medication […]
September 11, 2019
Erosion of Physician and Patient Treatment Choice Continues – Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines Raises Concerns for Patients as British Columbia Expands Biologics Forced Switching Policy September 10, 2019 VANCOUVER, B.C.- On September 5th, the Government of British Columbia (BC) announced that it would be forcibly switching 1,700 patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) […]
August 5, 2019
As BC attempts to increase biosimilar use by force-switching 23,000 patients, Europe enjoys high uptake rates while preserving patient and physician choice. On August 5th, ASBM released a fact sheet contrasting the biosimilar substitution policies of European countries (which generally have robust biosimilar markets) with the newly announced British Columbia policy. First fact sheet also addresses misconceptions […]
June 6, 2019
ARLINGTON, Va., June 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — On May 27th, the Government of British Columbia (B.C.) 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 November 25th, 2019. The roughly 23,000 patients who will be affected include those with rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, […]
May 14, 2019
Physicians, Patients Overwhelmingly Support FDA Distinct Biologic Naming Plan, Suffixes for New Products May 13, 2019 Arlington, VA – US physicians and patient advocacy organizations expressed their overwhelming support for the FDA’s suffix-based naming system for biologic medicines and biosimilars, according to comments electronically submitted last week to the agency. Biologic medicines treat […]
March 12, 2019
ASBM commends the decision by FDA to apply distinguishable suffixes to all biologics, including interchangeable biosimilars, going forward. FDA’s decision puts in place a protocol for a safe future, when there are many more biologics, biosimilars and interchangeable biosimilars. This policy ensures that patients and health care providers can distinguish between products when that is […]
January 16, 2019
On January 10, 2019, the Washington Post published an article “Patients stuck in corporate fight against generic drugs.” I spoke extensively with the author of the article and also suggested that he speak with the Chair of the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines (ASBM) international advisory board Dr. Philip Schneider. Unfortunately, the article did not represent […]
November 6, 2018
On October 23rd, ASBM Advisory Board Chair, Philip Schneider, MS, FASHP and Steering Committee Member Andrew Spiegel, Executive Director of the Global Colon Cancer Association, presented before the 67th Consultation on International Nonproprietary Names (INN) for Pharmaceutical Substances in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the eleventh INN Consultation at which ASBM has presented since 2013. While the discussions […]
October 22, 2018
Regulators, Physicians, Patients to WHO: A Harmonized Biologic Naming Protocol is Important to Patient Safety; Please Act Now A whitepaper released today by the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines calls on the World Health Organization (WHO) to implement a harmonized naming protocol for biologic medicines to help keep patients safe. Names – of products, people, […]
