Journal
Article title
Authors
Content
Full texts:
Title variants
Languages of publication
Abstracts
Rationale: In recent years many patent protections of original biopharmaceuticals have expired and biosimilar medicines are being developed and are entering the pharmaceutical market. Polish legal framework does not narrow down automatic therapeutic substitution (ATS) of biopharmaceuticals at the pharmacy level. The aim was to assess the awareness of Polish community pharmacy employees and their attitude towards ATS of generics and biosimilar medicines. Methods: A self-designed online questionnaire consisting of 27 questions addressing ATS of generics and biopharmaceuticals was created. The survey respondents were approached personally at local pharmacies, via pharmacy managers, chain pharmacy owners and Chambers of Apothecaries. Data collected was entered into descriptive statistics tool provided by the survey hosting server. Simultaneously a printed survey dedicated to patients was created to asses patterns of behaviour related to ATS. Results: According to Polish community pharmacy employees the main reason for ATS was price competitiveness, unavailability of the reference drug and patient’s wish. 7.3% of respondents have ever taken part in any drug safety monitoring program. 9.1% of pharmacy technicians and 46.8% masters of pharmacy claimed to have considerable knowledge about biosimilar drugs and evaluated biosimilars as carrying a higher risk of adverse events than generics. 17.2% would offer a substitution of a biopharmaceutical. 33.3% of patients did not tell their prescribing doctor about the ATS. Conclusions: There is strong need of establishing explicit legislation regulating ATS between reference biopharmaceuticals and biosimilars. Introduction of the framework should be simultaneously accompanied by shared trainings for medical professionals participating in the pharmacotherapy.
Year
Volume
Issue
Pages
1247-1254
Physical description
Dates
published
2018-10-31
Contributors
author
author
References
Document Type
Publication order reference
Identifiers
YADDA identifier
bwmeta1.element.doi-10_32383_appdr_85315
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.