Reem Hamdy A Mohammed
Cairo University, Egypt
Title: Biosimilars in rheumatology practice: Where we stand?
Biography
Biography: Reem Hamdy A Mohammed
Abstract
Biopharmaceuticals are biological medical products derived from cell culture or fermentation to produce therapeutic proteins that target pathogenic protein molecules by either neutralization or inhibition of their biologic hazards. Biosimilars on the other hand represent a form of biopharmaceuticals intended to be clinically equivalent end product yet unidentical to another existing biopharmaceutical. Reasons behind their being unidentical to an existing biologic are rather complex, however, many of such products are being increasingly investigated in the field of autoimmune diseases. The use of biosimilars has been linked to a 20-25% cutdown in therapeutic costs. With the increasing need for such product clinical development programs are being progressively updated to provide sufficient evidence for equivalent efficacy and comparability of safety and immunogenicity between candidate biosimilar and the reference biologic. Considering the latest therapeutic advent with the establishment of the treat to target strategy, the use of biosimilars in rheumatology practice seems tempting and deserves potential consideration with intense efforts.