The first biosimilar monoclonal antibody (infliximab,\nCT-P13) was registered by the European Medicines\nAgency in 2013 for the treatment of several\ninflammatory conditions including rheumatoid arthritis\n(RA). Biosimilar infliximab is first being marketed in the\nCentral and Eastern European countries. This paper presents\nthe estimated budget impact of the introduction of\nbiosimilar infliximab in RA over a 3-year time period in six\nselected countries, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,\nHungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. A prevalencebased\nmodel was constructed for budget impact analysis.\nTwo scenarios were compared to the reference scenario\n(RSc) where no biosimilar infliximab is available: biosimilar\nscenario 1 (BSc1), where interchanging the originator\ninfliximab with biosimilar infliximab is disallowed,\nand only patients who start new biological therapy are\nallowed to use biosimilar infliximab; as well as biosimilar\nscenario 2 (BSc2), where interchanging the originator\ninfliximab with biosimilar infliximab is allowed, and 80 %\nof patients treated with originator infliximab are interchanged\nto biosimilar infliximab. Compared to the RSc, the\nnet savings are estimated to be ââ??¬15.3 or ââ??¬20.8 M in BSc1\nand BSc2, respectively, over the 3 years. If budget savings\nwere spent on reimbursement of additional biosimilar infliximab\ntreatment, approximately 1,200 or 1,800 more\npatients could be treated in the six countries within 3 years\nin the two biosimilar scenarios, respectively. The actual\nsaving is most sensitive to the assumption of the acquisition\ncost of the biosimilar drug and to the initial number of\npatients treated with biological therapy. The study focused\non one indication (RA) and demonstrated that the introduction\nof biosimilar infliximab can lead to substantial\nbudget savings in health care budgets. Further savings are\nexpected for other indications where biosimilar medicines\nare implemented.
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