The uptake of non-branded medicines: Fact, fiction and biosimilarities

Abstract

With global healthcare budgets increasingly under pressure due to escalating costs, the spend on pharmaceuticals is a prime target for healthcare planners as it is the second largest budget item after staffing expenditure. Against this financial pressure, payers are, understandably, looking at any avenue to save costs and a method that looks increasingly attractive to healthcare planners is boosting prescribing of alternatives to branded medicines via generics and biosimilars. Although generic substitution has largely been accepted as desirable, the prescribing of biosimilars remains contentious. This article looks at the various issues and policies affecting the uptake of non-branded medicines in the UK and across the globe, and highlights the most important issues associated with the topic to assist policy-making going forward. The UK has managed to achieve a high level of generic prescribing without implementing a policy of mandatory prescribing; and the key to the success of this policy is physician advocacy, a concept that must form the bedrock of any policy seeking to expand biosimilar market penetration, both in this country and abroad.