The Next Step with Biosimilars

In our premiere episode, we’ll be talking about biologic medicines and biosimilars.  These are medicines that are used to slow or stop the progression of autoimmune arthritis and reduce disease activity when conventional tablet-form medications aren’t working well enough for you. We’ll hear from Ann Laherty-Hunt, a patient who was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2012 and was a gym junkie before starting to notice sore joints and getting night sweats. Ann shares her treatment journey of trying various DMARD therapies before getting onto biosimilars, which have changed her life. Rheumatologist, Dr David Liew will help us understand the difference between biologics and biosimilars and the safety and efficacy standards that biosimilars must meet before becoming an approved medicine. He also explains the prescribing process of how patients can access biosimilars through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Dr David Liew Profile
David Liew is a rheumatologist and clinical pharmacologist at Austin Health in Melbourne and also leads the Medicines Optimisation Service there. He is also the deputy editor of Rheumatology Republic and a co-host of the Australian Prescriber Podcast.

Amongst other committee positions, he served on the Council of Australian Therapeutic Advisory Groups' Expert Advisory Group for the Guiding Principles for the Governance of Biologics and Their Biosimilars in Australian Hospitals and maintains an academic interest in adverse drug reaction surveillance.

HOST: Naomi Creek

PATIENT: Ann Laherty-Hunt

DOCTOR: Dr David Liew

When my Rheumatologist spoke to me she said, you’ve got the biologics that I’m sure you’ve heard of, she said but there’s also biosimilars, which are very similar to the biologic.

Welcome to Patient Prep Rheum, a podcast where we speak to people living with autoimmune arthritis and related conditions, as well as health professionals to fully understand important aspects of living with these conditions. We want to empower patients so they are prepped and ready to be at the centre of their own health and make their disease journey a smooth one.

Hi, I’m Naomi Creek, the National Coordinator for CreakyJoints Australia, and I have been managing Rheumatoid arthritis since I was 12 years old. The challenges I have faced have made me a passionate advocate for people living with chronic pain. 

In this episode, we’ll be highlighting two of the main options used to slow or stop the progression of autoimmune arthritis and reduce disease activity when conventional tablet-form medications aren’t working well enough for you.

These options are biologics and biosimilars.”

Ann Laherty-Hunt is a nurse that lives in regional Victoria, and was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis in 2012.

I was being a gym junkie, and my husband and I were going to the gym a lot, and I was getting sore thumb joints, and I went to a physio to get some strapping because I thought it was from overworking the joints, and then I was having night sweats and of course I'm going, well this isn’t right, and started looking into what it could be, and I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis in December 2012.

I started on, of course the bog standard methotrexate, so I was on that for a while and then I still didn’t have much control, so then we added in plaquenil, and it was still better but not great, and then eventually we added in the pyralin. With those three I probably got really good control for 18 months to two years.

After those two years, it looked as though Ann would go into remission, but then her condition spiralled. That is when Ann and her Rheumatologist started talking about another way to treat her condition that they hadn’t yet tried.

I knew there was the next step. She said you’ve got the biologics that I’m s