The Regional Secretary for Health stated today that the adherence to biosimilars in the Region could lead to savings worth 2 million Euros in the health sector in 2018.
 
"The estimate we have for the Azores, and considering the medicines that will be available for health professionals in 2018, would be an investment of 5 million Euros in biological medicines. In this context, the use of biosimilars would represent savings of 40%," said Rui Luís. The government official spoke at the Conference on "Biosimilars Medicines," an event promoted by Saudaçor.
 
Biosimilars are medicines produced from living cells, using biotechnology techniques, at a lower cost than biological medicines. They are approved by the European Medicines Agency, the same agency that evaluates biological medicines.
 
In Europe, 400 million patients have adhered to the daily use of these medicines. In Portugal, 20 biosimilar medicines have been approved for diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis.
 
The Secretary for Health warned of the still incipient use of these medicines in the Azores and highlighted their advantages.
 
"Biosimilar medicines should be regarded as an investment with return, on the one hand, for the impact of savings that their widespread use represents and, on the other hand, for the investment in a broader vision of the concept of Health," said the government official.
 
On the occasion, Rui Luís assumed that "this is the future option of the future in regional medicine policy."
 
The Regional Secretary also mentioned some resistance in the prescription of biosimilars for lack of knowledge of their benefits, comparing it with the period when generics were introduced.
 
"Today, generic medicines have become part of the prescription of users who purchase them at pharmacies. In August, the use of generics in the Azores accounted for 46.81% of medicines sold in the Region," the government official recalled.
 
Although scientific evidence proves that these medicines have the same efficacy and quality as biologicals, the Regional Secretary advocates a greater dissemination of biosimilars in order to achieve other goals of use.