GIVEN the exorbitant prices of medicines in the Philippines that add to the burden of patients in availing themselves of health-care services, a world-leading expert in biologic medicines called on Filipino medical oncologists to take the lead in reducing overall costs by selecting smarter treatments and increasing efficiency and productivity.
Dr. Paul Cornes, a member of the European School of Oncology Task Force on Innovation in Cancer, graced the scientific meeting recently hosted by Sandoz Philippines for local oncologists to discuss value-based medicine and biosimilars.
Since cancer is one of the top causes of morbidity and mortality here and abroad, he shared key findings on global spending in treating this illness, and innovations in managing costs, keeping the health economics of the Asia-Pacific region in perspective.
According to the Department of Health, cancer continues to be a national health priority as it significantly affects not only individuals and families but the communities and health systems, as well. Value-based medicine expands the focus from mere efficacy of treatment further to serving the “value” that matters to the stakeholders.
In a nutshell, this is maximizing the resources and options available, which is especially important in managing the burden of cancer, as the cost of drugs alone increases up to five times faster than other classes of medicine.
“[So], managing the costs of cancer will be the model we use for other diseases,” Cornes said while clarifying that simple cuts are not proven to consistently enhance health.
He emphasized cost-effective care as “targeting medicines where equally effective but cheaper treatment exists.”
The biologic medicines expert cited the latest European Union recommendation, which promotes the use of generics and biosimilar medicines that could result to significant savings sans compromising quality and efficacy.
“Philippine health care has already gone a long way, but there is still a lot we can do to reach more Filipino cancer patients,” said Anuj Hasija, country head of Sandoz Philippines. “That’s why I’m happy we are having this important discussion around making much needed biologics accessible.”
Biologic medicines (or “biologics”) are drugs made by or derived from living organisms. These innovative treatments have transformed the lives of millions of patients with disabling and life-threatening diseases, including cancer.
Biosimilars are biologic medicines that are developed to match the reference medicine in terms of safety, efficacy and quality. They are approved as having no clinically meaningful differences to the reference medicine. They can be made available following the loss of patent exclusivity of the reference biologic medicine.
Cornes said that people can have clinical trust in a biosimilar if it has been green lighted based on a World Health Organization (WHO)-approved biosimilar pathway, including analytical, preclinical and clinical assessment.
He added that, in countries that do not yet meet the WHO standards for biosimilars, physicians, pharmacists, patients and payers should understand the level of uncertainty and potential risk of the medicines that they will use.
While it takes several years and huge resources to develop a biosimilar, it is more likely to become available at a lower price than reference biologics due to market competition.
This means that, once it’s approved for use, it has the potential to improve access to medicines for patients and to free up resources in the health-care system.
As the global leader in biosimilars, Sandoz commits itself to increase access of patient to these high-quality biologic medicines.
Currently, it has five biosimilars marketed in various countries, as well as a leading global pipeline.
This division of Novartis is well-positioned to continue leading the biosimilars industry based on its experience and capabilities in development, manufacturing and commercialization.