Biosimilar drugs and burden of severe asthma

Paul O’Byrne, MB, is dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. He is also a Distinguished University Professor of Medicine. His research interests are on the mechanisms and treatment of asthma, particularly the role of environmental allergens and the mechanisms by which these cause airway inflammation. He has served as chair of the executive committee of the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA).

To what degree does the introduction of biosimilar drugs into the asthma treatment regimens reduce the burden of severe asthma?

Paul O'Byrne, MB: We do not as yet have direct evidence for the use of biosimilars in severe eosinophilic asthma as exists, for example, in other diseases where biologics are used, such as severe rheumatologic diseases—lupus and so on. So, at the moment there is a lack of evidence to be able to make any direct statement about their benefit or comparison to the standard biologics that we’ve had now for quite a number of years. I am expecting, however, that to change very soon because the biologic era has been with us now for some time, we know the benefits, and I’m very certain the biosimilars will be following along in severe asthma, as they’ve done in other inflammatory diseases.