Carter Thorne, MD, Discusses Biosimilar Switching in Canada

Welcome to Not So Different, a podcast from The Center for Biosimilars®. I’m your host, Assistant Editor Skylar Jeremias.

Although Canada has taken a different route than the United States in increasing uptake of biosimilars, the country faces plenty of opposition to these agents. This is due in part to policies to automatically switch patients from reference products to biosimilars in some provinces. The first of these policies became effective in British Columbia in 2019.

In addition to British Columbia, 4 other provinces are looking into developing their own switching policies. However, there is still much work to be done on educating physicians and patients on the safety and efficacy of biosimilars before more regulatory bodies feel comfortable enough to enact their own versions of these policies.

We sat down with Carter Thorne, MD, FRCPC, former president of the Canadian Rheumatology Association and chief of the Division of Rheumatology and director of The Arthritis Program at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, to discuss the current status of Canada’s comfort level with biosimilars and what he sees for the future of switching policies.

To learn more about Canadian switching policies, click here.