The effectiveness and safety of switching therapy with an original drug to biosimilars in treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract

Introduction. Inflammatory bowel diseases are a group of chronic, immune-mediated diseases of unknown etiology. Etiotropic therapy of IBD does not exist, all drugs used to treat IBD have a pathogenetic effect. In the treatment of IBD biologic therapy is used. The most previously registered group of biologics are anti-TNF-α. But, after the expiration of the relevant patents, biosimilars appeared on the market (analogs, comparable in quality to the already approved reference product).Materials and methods. A retrospective study was conducted on the basis of the Ryzhikh Natianal Medical Research Centre for Coloproctology of the Ministry of Health of the Russia, which included 46 patients who switched from therapy with the original infliximab or adalimumab to biosimilar therapy.Discussion. This study showed that when switching therapy with the original drugs infliximab and adalimumab to biosimilars, the effectiveness of therapy does not significantly decrease with the use of biosimilars Infliximab BIOCAD and Dalibra. However, a statistically significant decrease in efficacy was revealed when switching from therapy with the original Infliximab to Flammegis. Considering that the use of biosimilars can reduce the cost of treatment and reduce the burden on the health budget, it is necessary to continue this study in order to obtain longer-term results.