Maybe more education is needed.This is the conclusion from a paper Giovato et al. (2024). The authors conducted an online survey of U.S. prescribers and health-system specialty pharmacists practicing in rheumatology, dermatology, and gastroenterology. Among the 31 prescribers and 44 pharmacists interviewed:
Only 16.0% of prescribers and 13.4% of pharmacists said they were “very ready” to discuss biosimilar drug options with patients. Forty-three percent of prescribers said they would prescribe biosimilars to biologic-naïve patients. However, 13.3% of prescribers were willing to prescribe biosimilars to patients who successfully received biologic treatments. Among pharmacists, 68.1% were willing to recommend biosimilar alternatives to biologic-naïve patients, but only 18.1% were willing to recommend biosimilar alternatives to existing patients who had successfully received biologic therapies. Less than half of prescribers (48.0%) and pharmacists (42.0%) were aware of interchangeability and substitution regulations.
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