Plain Language Review: What are Biosimilar Medicines and how Can they be Used to Treat People with Cancer?

Plain Language Summary

The aim of this plain language review article is to help you to understand biosimilar medicines (called biosimilars) by giving a summary of biologic medicines and biosimilars. It is based on the experience of an international panel of physicians with expertise on biosimilars who discussed and agreed on the topics and information included in this review article. Biologic medicines are medicines that come from living organisms such as bacteria and animal or plant cells. Biosimilars are a group of approved biologic medicines that are similar to original biologic medicines that are already available. This review explains how biosimilars are developed and approved, and how they are used to treat people with cancer. It also answers some common important questions people with cancer might have when taking biosimilars.

The purpose of this plain language review is to help you to understand the findings from recent research. This review reports information from peer-reviewed literature and other sources available in the public domain (e.g., regulatory documents or product information labels). The findings may differ from those of other review articles. Health professionals should make treatment decisions based on all available evidence.

Keywords: :

• biologics
• biosimilars
• cancer
• plain language summary
• review

Financial disclosure

This review was sponsored by Pfizer (NY, USA). G Castañeda-Hernández reports research grants from Pfizer paid to his institution; consulting fees from AbbVie, Laboratorios Columbia, Mexico, Pfizer, and Laboratorios Sophia, Mexico; payment or honoraria from AbbVie, Amgen, Laboratorios Columbia, Mexico, Libbs Farmacêutica, Novartis AG, Pfizer, Roche, Sandoz Inc, Sanofi, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and UCB; payment for expert testimony from Roche; support for attending meetings and/or travel from UCB; participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board from AbbVie, Pfizer, and Sanofi; and leadership or fiduciary role in other board, society, committee or advocacy group (unpaid) with Global Alliance for Patient Access (GAfPA), Latin American Patients Academy (LAPA), and BioRed CAC. SC Chiang reports a research grant from Novartis, Taiwan, paid to his institution. F Ibnshamsah has no disclosures to report. T Reinert reports consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Company, MSD, and Novartis AG; and payment or honoraria from AstraZeneca, Daichii-Sankyo Inc, Gilead Sciences, Eli Lilly and Company, MSD, Novartis AG, and Pfizer. RM Rifkin reports participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for CARsgen Therapeutics; participation on advisory boards for Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb (Celgene), Coherus Biosciences, Fresenius-Kabi, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals; and stock or stock options in McKesson. W El Morsi is a full-time employee of and declares shareholdings, stock holdings, and/or stock options from Pfizer. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Competing interests disclosure

The authors have no competing interests or relevant affiliations with any organization or entity with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Writing disclosure

Writing support was provided by Elyse Smith, PhD, Engage Scientific Solutions, funded by Pfizer.

Open access

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/