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Brenzys lists amid 'misinformation'
Posted 31 March 2017
GBMA CEO Belinda Wood
With the first biosimilar to be dispensed mainly by community pharmacists - etanercept biosim Brenzys - PBS-listed tomorrow, the government's $20 million biosimilars awareness campaign appears to have "the handbrake on", according to GBMA CEO Belinda Wood.
Although the Department of Health has confirmed there will be a CPD-based accredited biosimilar education for community pharmacists under the auspices of the PSA, this won't happen until "mid-2017", while pharmacists could theoretically be dispensing the a-flagged biosimilars as early as tomorrow.
There are also brochures and FAQs which will be distributed to interest groups and organisations and an intended social media presence aimed at consumers and health care professionals but these efforts "are expected to occur over the next couple of months", a Health Department spokesperson said.
But Wood is frustrated "nothing is happening" now on the biosimilar awareness front at a time when Brenzys is a community pharmacy reality.
"This is the time when biosimilar education needs to take place. Now is when we really need to ramp up the awareness issues," she said. "It feels like it's going slowly and the handbrake is on."
Since Brenzys was recommended for a-flagging by the PBAC in August last year, concerns have been raised about how much pharmacists know about biosimilars and potential issues such as multiple switching, and over the sedate roll-out of the awareness campaign, originally agreed to by the government in 2015, which has been subtle at best, with at least one major initiative mothballed.
Misinformation
Wood is also concerned about "the misinformation that is being delivered by brand pharma" alluding to recent biosimilar education events backed by Humira (adalimumab) sponsor AbbVie and aimed at pharmacists, which she thinks deliver the wrong message on biosimilars.
Based on one such presentation at APP which she attended she said "if I was a pharmacist, I wouldn't go near a biosimilar".
"That's really the wrong message.The whole point of the awareness campaign was to get evidence-based information out there and demystify them."
Wood is not alone in wanting more biosimilar education.
Rheumatologist Mona Marabani, chair of the biosimilars working group of the Australian Rheumatology Association, in the Brenzys launch statement from sponsor MSD said "information and education will become increasingly important as more biosimilars become available alongside the originator biologics and careful long term monitoring will be vital".
And, with MSD Medical Director Gary Jankelowitz promising the company will "bring more biosimilars to Australia in a range of disease areas" the number of biosimilars being handled by all types of HCPs is likely to increase significantly - and soon.
Although Brenzys is not a biosimilar GPs will handle, RACGP president Bastian Seidel recognises the lack of biosimilar knowledge within GP ranks and that issues in the future with interchangeability and multiple-switching will rest on the shoulders of the prescriber.
"If the prescriber doesn't know (about biosimilar interchangeability and multiple-switching) and the dispensing pharmacist doesn't have the information they need, then we can potentially put patients at risk just by not communicating properly," he told Pharma in Focus.
"Those medicines are significant and I would urge a properly run education campaign directed towards both prescribers and dispensers so we are offering the best care to our patients," he said.
He said when an a-flagging decision on biosimilars was made by the PBAC it needed to go "hand in hand with an educational component as well".
David Rowley
david.rowley@lushmedia.com.au
Posted 31 March 2017
|
| GBMA CEO Belinda Wood |
With the first biosimilar to be dispensed mainly by community pharmacists - etanercept biosim Brenzys - PBS-listed tomorrow, the government's $20 million biosimilars awareness campaign appears to have "the handbrake on", according to GBMA CEO Belinda Wood.
Although the Department of Health has confirmed there will be a CPD-based accredited biosimilar education for community pharmacists under the auspices of the PSA, this won't happen until "mid-2017", while pharmacists could theoretically be dispensing the a-flagged biosimilars as early as tomorrow.
There are also brochures and FAQs which will be distributed to interest groups and organisations and an intended social media presence aimed at consumers and health care professionals but these efforts "are expected to occur over the next couple of months", a Health Department spokesperson said.
But Wood is frustrated "nothing is happening" now on the biosimilar awareness front at a time when Brenzys is a community pharmacy reality.
"This is the time when biosimilar education needs to take place. Now is when we really need to ramp up the awareness issues," she said. "It feels like it's going slowly and the handbrake is on."
Since Brenzys was recommended for a-flagging by the PBAC in August last year, concerns have been raised about how much pharmacists know about biosimilars and potential issues such as multiple switching, and over the sedate roll-out of the awareness campaign, originally agreed to by the government in 2015, which has been subtle at best, with at least one major initiative mothballed.
Misinformation
Wood is also concerned about "the misinformation that is being delivered by brand pharma" alluding to recent biosimilar education events backed by Humira (adalimumab) sponsor AbbVie and aimed at pharmacists, which she thinks deliver the wrong message on biosimilars.
Based on one such presentation at APP which she attended she said "if I was a pharmacist, I wouldn't go near a biosimilar".
"That's really the wrong message.The whole point of the awareness campaign was to get evidence-based information out there and demystify them."
Wood is not alone in wanting more biosimilar education.
Rheumatologist Mona Marabani, chair of the biosimilars working group of the Australian Rheumatology Association, in the Brenzys launch statement from sponsor MSD said "information and education will become increasingly important as more biosimilars become available alongside the originator biologics and careful long term monitoring will be vital".
And, with MSD Medical Director Gary Jankelowitz promising the company will "bring more biosimilars to Australia in a range of disease areas" the number of biosimilars being handled by all types of HCPs is likely to increase significantly - and soon.
Although Brenzys is not a biosimilar GPs will handle, RACGP president Bastian Seidel recognises the lack of biosimilar knowledge within GP ranks and that issues in the future with interchangeability and multiple-switching will rest on the shoulders of the prescriber.
"If the prescriber doesn't know (about biosimilar interchangeability and multiple-switching) and the dispensing pharmacist doesn't have the information they need, then we can potentially put patients at risk just by not communicating properly," he told Pharma in Focus.
"Those medicines are significant and I would urge a properly run education campaign directed towards both prescribers and dispensers so we are offering the best care to our patients," he said.
He said when an a-flagging decision on biosimilars was made by the PBAC it needed to go "hand in hand with an educational component as well".
David Rowley
david.rowley@lushmedia.com.au
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