Kalveer Flora, MPharm: Patient Response to Switching to Biosimilar Adalimumab

Kalveer Flora, MPharm, London North West University Healthcare National Health Service Trust, discusses how patients have reacted to being switched to biosimilar adalimumab and how they have been supported in the switching process.

Transcript:

With the adalimumab, again, we used our experiences from our previous switches, so locally, in North West London, we work very closely with our patient support groups. We have a patient support group specifically for patients with arthritis, so we involved all of our patients when we wrote letters or patient information leaflets. We asked patients to come along to presentations that we were having. At all stages through switching, we invited patients and we worked together with patients.

Patients generally understand the need to switch to the biosimilar in order for the [National Health Service, NHS] to realize their savings, so patients have knowledge that, yes, we are switching so the NHS has money.

So I think our experience is, patients understand and they’re more likely to switch because they know that it's for the greater good of the NHS. That's something that we’ve certainly seen in North West London where we’ve done the switch to adalimumab biosimilars.