The Impact of Biosimilars in Supportive Care in Cancer

Biosimilars offer significant benefits for cancer care, primarily in increasing patient access to effective treatment through lower-cost equivalent treatments, and have been used to treat patients for many years. This review documents the real-world experience of biosimilars bearing filgrastim and epoetin in Europe since 2008. Studies that confirm the comparability of safety and efficacy of biosimilars with reference drugs are summarised. Studies of switching between reference and biosimilar drugs are reviewed, which to date show no evidence of increased safety signals. Evidence that patient access to treatment can be improved significantly through biosimilar use is documented. These data indicate that use of biosimilars approved by registration authorities is safe and can lead to substantial savings in healthcare systems.