Mandatory nonmedical switching from originator to biosimilar infliximab in patients with inflammatory arthritis and psoriasis in British Columbia: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In 2019, British Columbia's public drug plan, PharmaCare, was the first in Canada to implement a nonmedical switching policy from originator infliximab to its biosimilar, for patients with inflammatory arthritis or psoriasis. We aimed to detect signals of impact on health services utilization during the first year of policy implementation and to provide early data to policy-makers.

Methods

We constructed cohorts of users of originator infliximab: 3 historical cohorts (2016-2018) and 1 policy cohort (2019). We extracted data from BC Ministry of Health databases from 2015 to 2020, as we followed each cohort for 365 days from May 27 of each cohort's respective year. We excluded patients with gastrointestinal conditions and those not covered by PharmaCare. We examined

SUBMITTER: Fisher A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9259384 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan-Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature