EGA president calls on Member States to boost market access for biosimilars in the EU

“Safe and effective biosimilar monoclonal antibodies will arrive soon” announced EGA President Gudbjorg Edda Eggertsdottir in her opening address at the 11th EGA International Symposium on Biosimilars in London last week.

Uptake of biosimilars has been inconsistent across Member States and most have been slow to take advantage of the opportunities offered by biosimilars. “We now need the right environment for the advent of biosimilar monoclonal antibodies as biosimilar medicines provide a unique opportunity to help manage the growing costs of biopharmaceutical medicines and increase patients access to medicines in Europe” Ms Eggertsdottir said.

An EU/US framework allowing single development should become a reality soon, continued education of all stakeholders is needed and all Member States are invited to take action to boost market access for biosimilars. This could be done by rolling out the recently published Tajani Project consensus information document on biosimilars and by further developing the necessary conditions for an informed uptake and adequate patient access to these high quality biopharmaceuticals.

Establishing a strong and dynamic biosimilars industry in the EU is essential to increase competition and reduce healthcare expenditure on biopharmaceuticals over the long term. “Failure to support biosimilar market access in the short term may limit investment in future biosimilar development. To realise the economic benefits of biosimilar adoption, policy makers, payors, prescribers and manufacturers must work together to establish sustainable market access mechanisms” EGA’s President concluded.

Source: EGA press release