UNDERSTANDING ARTHRITIS
Biosimilars
Learn more about biosimilars, affordable medicines that reduce inflammation and offer an alternative to biologics. Discover benefits, uses, and resources.
Learn more about biosimilars, affordable medicines that reduce inflammation and offer an alternative to biologics. Discover benefits, uses, and resources.
Biosimilars are a type of medicine that can help reduce swelling in the body. These medicines are very similar to other medicines called biologics (or “reference medicine”) that are commonly used. People usually spend about $0.70 on biosimilars for every $1 they would have spent on biologics.
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Biosimilars are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as another option to a current biologic treatment. To evaluate the effectiveness of a biosimilar, the FDA checks its ingredients and how it works compared to the original biologic medicine. The biosimilar is only approved if it is safe and works similarly at treating arthritis and autoimmune disease to the original biologic medicine.
You may want to switch from a biologic treatment to an approved biosimilar if the biologic treatment is too expensive or not covered by your insurance. Because biosimilars are very close to their biologics, the biosimilar should have a similar effect on treating your condition and similar side effects.
It is generally safe to switch from a biologic to a biosimilar, but you should get advice from your doctor if you are considering this. They can tell you about available options, risks and benefits, and price.
This list changes often as new biosimilars are approved. As of June 2023, there are biosimilars for the following autoimmune disease treatments:
adalimumab, infliximab, etanercept
adalimumab, etanercept
adalimumab, etanercept
adalimumab, infliximab, etanercept