“A resource, a novelty that has improved their quality of life and which guarantees a response in terms of higher efficacy“. It is the biological therapy seen by patients with psoriasis,” ideal for chronic treatment and not just when needed. Anap Onlus “, National Association ‘Friends for the skin’,” was born, on the initiative of patients, in the years in which they were hospitalized for months. Biological drugs represent a great victory against the disease. The problem is that they are not yet available to everyone. There are guidelines that dictate certain approaches to therapy and therefore not all patients with mild psoriasis can access these therapies, because they must be treated with conventional therapies. One of the problems that we as an association have to solve is to explain to patients why they have not been offered biological therapy and why they do not qualify for this type of therapy. Another problem concerns the pathology, which is still not recognized even at the social security level. In fact, the idea that it only concerns the skin, four scabs and a little itch is still common, instead it affects several organs and has psychological implications with great repercussions also on work “.
So Ugo Viora, president of Anap Onlus, an association for the support of psoriasis and other chronic dermatological diseases, in his speech during the sixth Talk of ‘Allies for Health’, the portal dedicated to medical-scientific information created by Novartis. Title of the debate ‘Biological drugs: an opportunity to be seized‘, which was also attended by Paolo Dapavo, dermatologist at the Città della Salute e della Scienza university hospital in Turin, and the journalist Silvia Bencivelli. What is the difference between biological and biosimilar drugs? How have clinical practice and the doctor-patient relationship changed? These are the issues addressed during the meeting, strictly online for the anti-Covid rules, during which it emerged that, although they are increasingly effective and well tolerated, the problem of costs remains, which limits access to biological drugs only to moderate to severe patients.
“Surely there are costs related to the study, development and production of the drug – says Viora – As the licenses expire, these costs can be reduced by the so-called biosimilars, which represent a great resource for an expansion of access to biological therapies. with many small collateral problems due to issues that can be summarized in the fact that they have been presented as low-cost drugs and which, for this reason, have created many problems for the patient “.
In addition to effectiveness, the strength of these drugs is the high tolerability profile. “However – underlines the president of Anap Onlus – in Italy there are still differences in access to such therapies from one region to another. Not all regions have simplified and rapid access to biological drugs and not all regions have the willingness, even on the part of clinicians, to explain and choose, even going against regional directives “.
Differences that also concern biosimilars: some Regions – it emerged from the Talk – only allow the use of biosimilars, while others leave doctors the freedom to choose between biological or biosimilar. “In recent years we have been carrying out an awareness-raising action – recalls Viora – We have also signed a document on biosimilars. Basically I believe that the most just and logical solution is those Regions that allow doctors to choose. A patient who does not have never had a therapeutic prescription for a biological drug has no reason not to use a biosimilar. Indeed, it could be the key to expanding the use of these drugs even for those patients considered ‘not serious’. In reality, if in a Region the costs are particularly difficult, they greatly influence the choice of the clinician “.
For Viora we need “more information on the disease rather than on biological and biosimilar drugs”. Also “we have had something to learn from Covid – concludes the president of Anap Onlus – Control with telemedicna can free up waiting lists for the first visit. I would have a few more hesitations about the diagnosis”.