An empirical analysis of the perceived challenges and benefits of introducing biosimilars in Bangladesh: A paradigm shift

Abstract

The high demand for and resulting financial success of biopharmaceutical products over the last three decades have seen the door open for close copies of these biological products, also known as biosimilars. This paper seeks to collate all relevant published intelligence with acquired survey data to assess the weight of available evidence that these products hold immense potential for the pharmaceutical industry in terms of their applications and benefits. Biosimilars also pose to be of great promise to the Bangladesh pharmaceutical industry, with the commitment of drastically reducing its dependence on foreign imports of biopharmaceutics to meet local demand. Our questionnaire based survey involved 100 Clinicians, 50 Industry Experts and 100 Academicians. The study found that majority of Industry Experts (72%) and Academicians (63%) shared a different concept of biosimilars opposed to majority of Clinicians (78%). Majority of Academicians (68%) and Industry Experts (61%) also shared a different belief from that of most Clinicians (61%) regarding the need for updating the existing regulatory guidelines. The study also showed that Clinicians (67%), Industry Experts (83%) and Academicians (80%) highlighted the benefit of lower costs of biosimilars. Furthermore, the quality data obtained from the survey results allowed us to evaluate and provide recommendations for stakeholders on the need for increased biosimilar awareness, pharmacovigilance and safety in Bangladesh.