Dr. Hurvitz on the Impact of Biosimilars

Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, director of the Breast Oncology Program, medical director of the Clinical Research Unit, University of California, Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the impact of biosimilars in the treatment of patients with breast cancer.

This is a very important class of drugs, says Hurvitz, and the implementation of biosimilars will globally give patients access to life-saving therapy. The approval of a trastuzumab (Herceptin) biosimilar is especially important because this drug isn’t typically available outside the United States. The cost of medicine in general is an issue that patients and physicians contend with, especially in the United States, where drugs are more expensive than anywhere else. Biosimilars could serve as an effective alternative.

Hurvitz adds that it is important for patients and clinicians to be educated on biosimilars. These are different from generic agents in that superiority is not the goal—similarity is.