Patients demand guarantees that authorities will not make switches of biotherapeutic drugs solely for economic reasons and without considering the medical decision. This was expressed by the Uruguay Patients Alliance at the First National Biotechnology Forum. The main objective of this forum was to create a meeting place for the academic world, patients and health authorities in the field of biotechnology and innovation.
Therapeutic interchangeability refers to the possibility of a physician substituting one drug for another, depending on the patient's requirements. The implementation of interchangeability in Latin America began at the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, promoted by a task force of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and Uruguay began to legislate on the matter in January 2007.
In the event that Uruguay begins to experience switches with biosimilars, patients are requesting a more active participation in the decisions and applauded the creation of the Health Technology Assessment Agency, which is presented as the ideal environment for this type of analysis and evaluation.
The patient associations that participated in the forum agreed that for many patients affected by inflammatory autoimmune diseases finding the right treatment is a challenging path that can take years, furthermore, the full effect of switching an innovative drug for a biosimilar or vice versa is unknown, as switching in stable patients can affect clinical outcomes. They insisted on the need to respect the patients who are undergoing treatment and not to switch their medication for purely economic reasons. They demanded that proven efficacy and safety be taken into account when making decisions and that interchangeability be avoided so as not to generate more uncertainty for the patient.
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| LATIN AMERICAN FORUM The new section of the ‘Latin American Forum’ on GaBI has been launched. The objective of this new section is to provide you with all the latest news and updates on developments of generic and biosimilar medicines in Latin America in Spanish. View this week’s headline article: La evidencia sobre la sustitución automática de biológicos es limitada Browse the news in the Latin American Forum! Register to receive the GaBI Latin American Forum newsletter. Inform colleagues and friends of this new initiative. LATIN AMERICAN FORUM Se ha lanzado la nueva sección del ‘Foro Latinoamericano’ sobre GaBI. El objetivo de esta nueva sección es brindarle las últimas noticias y actualizaciones sobre desarrollos de medicamentos genéricos y biosimilares en América Latina en español. Vea el artículo principal de esta semana: La evidencia sobre la sustitución automática de biológicos es limitada Explore las noticias en el Foro Latinoamericano! Regístrese para recibir el boletín informativo GaBI Foro Latinoamericano. Informe a colegas y amigos sobre esta nueva iniciativa.
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