Recent changes on the biopharmaceutical market after the introduction of biosimilar G-CSF products

Abstract

The biologic medicine market is the fastest growing segment of the global pharmaceutical market. However, the high price of biologic medicines is a challenge for the constrained budget of healthcare systems. The introduction of biosimilars — copies of therapeutic biologics — has ensured a high degree of competition on the market and consequently has expanded patient access to advanced therapies and has evolved the overall patient treatment costs. One of the first medicines that was approved in Europe based on the abbreviated registration process was a biosimilar version of filgrastim. In this review we investigate the impact of biosimilar G-CSF products on the market. The influence of the competition on the price change and the cost of therapy were analysed. Our findings reveal that the impact of biosimilars on the healthcare system is multi-factored and therefore difficult to predict. A competitive environment induces the price reduction even for second-generation products. However, at the same time, no correlation between the biosimilar market share and the discount was noticed. It seems that the observed changes reflect the mix of economic conditions including the situation on the national market before introduction of biosimilars, local adoption of treatment practices influenced by the pricing system, and the payer’s decision on drug reimbursement.