Patient Satisfaction, Drug Survival of Switches to Adalimumab Biosimilars

While switching between originator products and their biosimilars is safe and effective, approaching this switch with a patient-centered approach is important. Two posters presented at the EADV Congress, the annual meeting of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, held in Berlin, Germany, October 11-14, evaluated patients’ perception and satisfaction during a switch from reference adalimumab (Humira) to a biosimilar, as well as the 1-year drug survival when switching from the originator to 2 different biosimilars.

Despite similar safety and a lower cost, successful implementation of a biosimilar switch requires a patient-centered approach prioritizing communication, education, and monitoring, one poster found.

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In the first poster,¹ researchers from Portugal collected data through a telephone survey from 8 patients with psoriasis who switched from reference adalimumab to a biosimilar to collect data on perception and satisfaction when switching products. They initially identified 11 patients, but only 8 remained on the therapy 1 year after the switch. One patient stopped therapy due to a severe infection, one returned to the originator product when their disease worsened, and one patient they were unable to collect data from.

The majority (75%) of respondents were male with a mean (SD) age of 48.4 (14.7) years . The mean duration of disease for these individuals was 18.3 (11.3) years. Six of the patients were long-term users of the reference product and had been on it for more than 5 years.

The researchers found:

• 3 patients were “very satisfied” with the switch
• 2 patients were “somewhat satisfied”
• 2 were a “little satisfied”
• 1 was “not satisfied at all”

Nearly all patients surveyed said the pain while administering the biosimilar was “much worse” (n = 2) or “slightly worse (n = 5) than the pain administering the reference product. Although they found only 3 patients had been trained on how to use the new pen, there was no statistically significant relationship between lack of training and the perception of greater pain.

While the majority (62.5%) said they would prefer to remain on the reference product, only 1 patient said they were willing to pay the greater price needed to stay on the originator.

The second poster² compared the 1-year drug survival, which measures the length of time until discontinuation of a drug, between 2 adalimumab biosimilars following a nonmedical mandatory switch from the originator. They used the Danish clinical database DERMBIO (2007-2019) to identify all patients with psoriasis who were treated with the originator and underwent the nonmedical mandatory switch to either GP2017 (Hyrimoz) or SB5 (Imraldi).

A total of 525 patients were included, with 267 receiving GP2017 and 258 receiving SB5. The biosimilars had equal drug survival after 1 year. The mean Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score before and after the switch had no impact on drug effectiveness. Males had a reduced risk of discontinuation.

A matched cohort of 450 patients comparing the biosimilars with the originator product showed the drug survival was equal between the biosimilars and the originator. Again, in this analysis, males had a decreased risk of discontinuation.

References

1. Matos J, Magalhães C, Costa M, Queirós C, Varela P. Switching from original adalimumab to biosimilar – patients’ perception and satisfaction analysis. Presented at: EADV Congress; October 11-14, 2023; Berlin, Germany. Abstract 3109.

2. Sieborg J, Thein D, Maul J-T, et al. Drug survival of patients with psoriasis, who underwent a non-medical mandatory switch from adalimumab originator to either of the two biosimilar biologics adalimumab SB5/GP2017 with a year follow-up period using a nationwide cohort study. Presented at: EADV Congress; October 11-14, 2023; Berlin, Germany. Abstract 4897.