Need to bolster EU biosimilar medicines policy, says trade group

The European Union must improve its biosimilar medicines policy to increase equity of access and bring much needed savings to healthcare budgets, says Medicines for Europe, the trade group that represents makers of generic and biosimilar medicines in the region.

According to the trade group, the benefits of biosimilar medicines are clear. They bring cost effective medicines to health systems, clinical options to patients and their use dramatically increases access to medicines across Europe.

To deliver on these benefits, the EU must take action to address the growing disparity in patient access across the continent for auto-immune conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis) with a 114% gap, cancer (50%) or diabetes (20%).