Dr. De Censi Discusses Financial Benefit of Biosimilars

Andrea De Censi, MD, director of the medical oncology unit at the National Hospital E.O. Ospedali Galliera—SC Oncologia Medica in Genoa, Italy, discusses the financial benefit of biosimilars in oncology.

Because several patents for reference products expired a few years before those in the United States, biosimilars have hit the market much quicker in Europe. De Censi says he is very much in favor of biosimilars, which he believes are “the way forward” in the space. Treatment is rapidly advancing in multiple tumor types, but the rising price of new oncologics is not sustainable.

The only entity benefitting from high drug cost is the pharmaceutical industry, he adds. Some patients cannot access potentially life-saving therapy because insurance companies cannot afford these treatments. Part of the responsibility falls on community oncologists, De Censi says, because there is not enough dialogue between physicians and manufacturers.