A government-funded, industry-run $5 million biosimilar education initiative is patronising and a “lost opportunity” because gastroenterologists were not involved in its development, according to GESA.
Board member Professor Jane Andrews said the activities starting in Biosimilar Week in late April seem more like advertising than education because they are being provided by the Generic Biosimilar Medicines Association (GBMA), which represents companies marketing biosimilars.
Speaking to the limbic she said GESA and clinicians who run IBD services and with academic interests in the area had not been formally approached about being involved in the activities such as education sessions at teaching hospitals and online events.
“They have not come to us or the patient groups, so I don’t see how they can partner with us if they don’t come and talk to us,” she said.
“I just see this as a lost opportunity … They’re going to educate us about biosimilars? It’s patronising”.
Professor Andrews, Head of the IBD Service at Royal Adelaide Hospital, said GESA and Crohn’s and Colitis Australia would have been very interested if there had been a public call for tenders.
“We actually have relationships that exist with all the prescribers and all the patients,” she said.
The GBMA was given $5 million for the education campaign via an “ad hoc grant” from the Federal Government announced in April 2018. It was the only organisation allowed to apply for the grant, according to the Health Department, because of its “role within the marketplace”.
“I can’t think of any other industry in which the government has loaded the dice by providing preferential advertising, because that’s essentially what this is,” said Professor Andrews
And she said it was a misconception that GESA was ‘anti-biosimilar’.
“We’re not against biosimilars and we are very much in favour of cost savings in health and value in care”.
“We’re very reasonable people, many of us are highly educated, a lot of us work in public health and we absolutely understand the concept of opportunity costs”.
The only issue with biosimilars, according to Professor Andrews, was knowing which drug a person was receiving over time so if there were adverse reactions or efficacy issues it would be clear which product they had.
The “Holy Grail” for everyone, she said, was saving money “and that involves partnering in a genuine way with people who are making the cost decisions – and they’re the patients and the prescribers”.
The Federal Government is hoping to achieve $330 million in PBS savings over five years with biosimilars but uptake has been slow, with reports that infliximab biosimilars account for less than 12% of usage.