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BACKGROUND The prevention of venous thromboembolism has been identified as a leading priority in hospital safety. Recommended parenteral anticoagulant agents with different indications for the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism include unfractionated heparin, low-molecular-weight heparins and fondaparinux. Prescribing decisions in venous thromboembolism management may seem compl...

BACKGROUND Agency is a pervasive feature of the health care market, with doctors acting as agents for both patients and the health care system. In a context of scarce resources, doctors are required to take opportunity cost into account when prescribing treatments, while cost containment policies cannot overlook their active role in determining health care resource allocation. This paper addres...

BACKGROUND Across European countries, differences exist in biosimilar policies, leading to variations in uptake of biosimilars and divergences in savings all over Europe. OBJECTIVES The aim of this article is to provide an overview of different initiatives and policies that may influence the uptake of biosimilars in different European countries. Recommendations will be formulated on how to cr...

Abstract Background/Aims Adalimumab is licenced to treat a variety of autoimmune conditions including inflammatory arthropathies. Switching stable patients from the bio-originator Humira biosimilars has been strongly promoted on economic grounds and presumed equitable interchangeability regarding efficacy tolerance across all disease indications. Our aims were assess adalimumab biosimilar reten...

Background: Biosimilar products of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) entered the Swedish market in 2015, with regulatory approvals based on head to trials limited duration. Longer-term comparative drug survival, clinical practice, remains less well documented. Objectives: To compare survival between biosimilars and their originator among first starters etanercept, infli...

This Feature will introduce the strategies of therapeutic antibodies (mAbs) in-depth characterization by mass spectrometry (MS) and discuss analytical comparison of biosimilar to originator mAbs, with the cases of trastuzumab and cetuximab. In addition, the structural and functional insights gained both by state-of-the art and emerging MS methods used for biobetters and next generation antibodi...