The global biologic medicines market is a growing and increasingly important portion of pharmaceutical expenditure for countries and managing this becomes a necessary part of sustainable healthcare systems. The concept of ‘biosimilar sustainability’ has therefore become increasingly important for all stakeholders to understand. This report highlights examples of the benefits biosimilar competition can create as well as how these benefits can be unlocked through optimisation. In this report, the sustainability of the biosimilars marketplace was assessed across a set of five European countries with a broad spectrum of systems and approaches.
In this report, countries benefit from an independent view on the current system. To date, countries have made progress toward sustainable practises in many markets. However, our study of these markets revealed the following three themes as the most common hurdles to biosimilar sustainability: unsustainable purchasing policies for the procurement of biologics; limited tangible benefits offered to prescribers to encourage the use of biosimilars; and lack of physician and patient education on biosimilars. Although many of the best practice approaches that support biosimilar sustainability are already present somewhere in Europe, they are not consistently implemented in every country. As each country has a unique policy footprint and has started from different positions, the journey toward a sustainable market is different for each individual market. It is in the best interests of all stakeholders to learn from the issues that have arisen, gather perspectives from other countries, and implement targeted approaches for their individual markets that will work into the future to optimise the system and unlock the full benefits of biosimilars.
Definition of ‘Biosimilar Sustainability’
Criteria for a sustainable market
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index of Market Concentration (ordered by date of biosimilar entry)