Clinical Trials

Real-world data into a mandatory non-medical switching policy for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has shown long-term safety and efficacy. The patients transitioned from using adalimumab (Humira) to a biosimilar due to the enaction of the policy in British Columbia, Canada – the first Canadian province to do so.

Over the past five years, the biosimilar switching policy has saved British Columbia $732m, which then has the capacity to be invested into the province’s Pharmacare programme to improve drug coverage and healthcare services.

The analysis, published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, aimed to assess how long-term clinical outcomes were maintained. The single-centre, retrospective observational study was conducted at the IBD Centre of British Columbia (IBDCBC) and used data from the centre’s electronic medical record, the IBD Data Lake and the biosimilar’s patient support programme from patients who switched from Humira to a biosimilar between January 2020 and April 2023, according to the announcement.

During the switch period 271 patients were assessed – 43 remained on Humira while 228 switched to biosimilars. The analysis found that patients who switched displayed similar demographics and baseline disease characteristics, with no difference in rate of treatment persistence in either group by the study endpoint of 30 months.

The published analysis states: ‘[This] data support[s] the long-term efficacy and safety of non-medical adalimumab switching in IBD and will help inform patients and physicians in jurisdictions currently undergoing biosimilar switching.’