Community pharmacists' preparedness for substituting biologics and dispensing biosimilars - Lessons learned from a multinational survey

Isabelle Arnet; Melina Verbeek; Birna Almarsdóttir Anna; Liese Barbier; Rhonda Clifford; Christiane Eickhoff; Kurt Hersberger; Isabelle Huys; Kenny Lee; Kritsanee Saramunee; Martin Schulz; David Zgarrick; Kati Sarnola

doi:10.1016/j.rcsop.2021.100084

Community pharmacists' preparedness for substituting biologics and dispensing biosimilars - Lessons learned from a multinational survey

Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2021 Oct 22:4:100084. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2021.100084. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Pharmaceutical Care Research Group, University of Basel, Petersplatz 14, P.O. Box 4128 4001, Basel, Switzerland.
² University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
³ KU Leuven, Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, O&N II Herestraat 49, box 521, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ School of Allied Health, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawlex WA 6009, Australia.
⁵ Department of Medicine, ABDA - Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists, Heidestr. 7, 10557 Berlin, Germany.
⁶ Social Pharmacy Research Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahasarakham University, 44150, Thailand.
⁷ Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), Research at Kela, P.O. Box 450, 00056 Kela, Finland.

Abstract

Interchangeability between biological medicines and biosimilars, and subsequent substitution by pharmacists represent an important opportunity for costs savings for health care systems. Because biological medicines are complex products, the expert role of the pharmacist to inform patients and support physicians is indispensable. However, regulations on substitution of biosimilars differ around the globe, such that a substitution that is allowed in one country may be forbidden in another. Overall, pharmacists' knowledge of biosimilar medicines is incomplete and hesitancy to engage in substitutions is perceptible. As counter-balancing remedy, continued education about biosimilars is needed among practicing community pharmacists.

Keywords: Automatic substitution; Biologicals; Biosimilars; Community pharmacy; Interchangeability; Pharmacy.