VIDEO | Rheumatoid arthritis, experts: “The disease has an annual cost of over 2 billion euros”

The meeting took place with pathology experts in Rome at the Sturzo Foundation

ROME – The fight against rheumatoid arthritis has an additional weapon at more compatible costs: the molecule tocilizumab, the first monoclonal antibody among the interleukin-6 inhibitors, is available as a biosimilar and seems to have all the conditions to be used effectively in the front line and even in monotherapy, i.e. when its association with methotrexate is not possible, in the case of patients who do not respond to this molecule or are intolerant. It was discussed today in Rome during an event promoted by the health policy magazine ‘Italian Health Policy Brief’ (IHPB), which saw the participation of pharmacologists, clinicians and patients.

The meeting took place at the Sturzo Foundation. “Tocilizumab is an important molecule that has a precise positioning in the field of personalized medicine, because it was the first drug that made it possible to combat rheumatoid arthritis without necessarily having to combine it with methotrexate – explained Maurizio Rossini, professor of Rheumatology at University of Verona – its availability as a biosimilar contributes significantly to the sustainability of pharmaceutical spending and allows us to overcome the supply problems that have occurred in the past, as well as representing a therapeutic opportunity in several species in those regions that have the ‘use of the biosimilar as a first choice drug”.

Rheumatoid arthritis, meanwhile, is a public health issue that has a heavy impact on the social and healthcare system: data from a CEIS study by the University of Rome Tor Vergata highlight an overall annual cost of over 2 billion euros , of which 45% (931 million) attributable to direct healthcare costs, 205 million borne by patients in terms of direct costs and approximately 900 million for indirect costs generated by social security benefits or loss of productivity due to lost working days. “These data – the experts commented – make the contribution that can derive from the use of biosimilar drugs to decongest the impact of spending in this specific healthcare sector central”.

Tocilizumab is a humanized recombinant monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to interleukin-6 receptors and inhibits the inflammatory activity causing joint damage. “The extensive clinical experience on this drug confirms its effectiveness and important safety profile in the short and long term – said Professor Pierluigi Navarra, full professor of Pharmacology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome – as well as making it a valid treatment opportunity, with subcutaneous administration on a weekly basis, both in monotherapy and in combination with methotrexate”.

The possibility of significantly expanding the number of patients who can have access to increasingly effective therapies, together with the need to ensure the sustainability of healthcare spending, has gradually made it possible to overcome the initial reluctance of patient associations regarding the use of biosimilar drugs, even if there remains a need to ensure adequate information for recipients of treatment as well as to protect the principle of free choice for the doctor regarding the therapy to be adopted.

“In the patient who undergoes treatment with biosimilars, whether naive or already being treated with another biological drug – underlined Dr. Teresa Petrangolini, director of Patient Advocacy Lab of ALTEMS, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome – it can sometimes the fear of being treated with a ‘series B’ drug emerges and therefore of being sacrificed on the altar of economic logic. It is therefore of extreme importance that, when this occurs, the doctor informs and reassures the patient effectiveness, reliability and safety of the treatment adopted, precisely in consideration of the high quality standards of biosimilars which are identical to those of the original drugs”.

Finally, the president of APMARR (National Association of People with Rheumatological and Rare Diseases), Antonella Celano, was satisfied: “The availability of Tocilizumab also as a biosimilar is an important therapeutic opportunity – she said – which allows us to broaden the audience and the number of people eligible for treatment, thus guaranteeing an improvement in access to the drug. Thanks to the progress made in the last twenty years by scientific research in rheumatology, the therapeutic armamentarium available to rheumatologists has progressively been enriched with increasingly innovative drugs for the treatment. treatment of chronic inflammatory arthritis”.