Reaction from the British Biosimilars Association (BBA) to NHS England’s Simon Stevens speech at the Expo conference in Manchester.

Warwick Smith, Director General of the British Biosimilars Association (BBA), said: “We welcome the focus NHS England is placing on ensuring the use and increased uptake of biosimilar medicines and this clear statement. Competition from these life-saving and life-enhancing medicines is already helping the NHS treat more patients and this will only increase as further biosimilar medicines become available. 

“Six of the top ten products by value in the UK are biological medicines, and starting or switching patients to biosimilar versions of these medicines when they become available can save the NHS very significant amounts of money increasing patient access and saving stretched resources. This money can be ploughed back into frontline care and we are already seeing examples where a specialist nurse can be funded through savings due to the use of biosimilars. 

“As more biosimilar medicines become available to treat complex diseases such as cancer, we expect uptake to accelerate further as clinicians and prescribers are more used to working with these medicines which are proven to have no clinically meaningful differences to the originator product in terms of safety, efficacy and quality.”

ENDS

For further information contact Jeremy Durrant on 020 7866 7883 or email Jeremy.durrant@britishgenerics.co.uk

For more information on the BGMA, visit: www.britishbiosimilars.co.uk