Inside Health Policy’s “Stakeholders Gear Up For Biosimilar Substitution Battle In 2013” article includes mentions of ASBM and quotes Dr. Dolinar:

“Still, groups like the Alliance for Safe Biologic Medicines, which has a broad membership of patient groups and innovator biologic companies, are pressing for a unique naming scheme, saying it is pertinent for ensuring safety and tracking adverse events.

“‘[I]t is important to understand that biosimilar and interchangeable biological products will be only similar to, but not the same as, an original reference product. From a patient and provider perspective, it would be inappropriate, unsafe, and misleading to allow biosimilar products to use the same name for biological products that are not exactly the same,’ Richard Dolinar, the group’s chairman wrote in a recent Food and Drug Law Institute Policy Forum. Tracking products by National Drug Codes, as some pharmacy groups have suggested, has limitations because the numbers are not uniformly used in medical billing, and doctors and patients associate products by name, not a number, the group says.”

Read the full Inside Health Policy article here.