According to a recent survey by Sole 24 Ore Sanità, the 91% of the family doctors interviewed categorically refuses that the pharmacist can replace the prescribed medicine. A position confirmed to DoctorNews33 by the general secretary of Fimmg who reiterates how such a choice would be inappropriate both "in the interests of citizens and in the professionalism of family doctors". There is only one road, therefore for Milillo, in line with the survey: the doctor chooses the product and the pharmacist is bound by the choice. Moreover, the health risks are concrete, according to the general secretary of the Fimmg. «The problem is that of continuity of care, the potential intervention of the pharmacist can compromise adherence to therapy which is one of the basic problems of pharmaceutical assistance». And the non-substitutability clause reserved for doctors in the recent legislative text is not enough. "It is a useless bureaucratic burden which, moreover, cannot be used in all cases". However, Fimmg does not give up, underlines Milillo «we have been expressing our perplexities for some time and we have also done so at a European level, with precise and detailed arguments. But unfortunately we are not the ones to decide» concludes the representative of the largest union of family doctors.
Marco Malagutti – 26 June 2013 – DoctorNews33
Aiom: yes to biosimilars but the doctor chooses on substitutability
Campania oncologists are in favor (58%) of the use of biosimilars in patients who have never been treated, as established by the decree of the president of the Caldoro Region, but 67% asks to be able to decide on substitutability. The data communicated by the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom) emerges from a survey conducted by the association itself makes its members from Campania, and was discussed at the seminar "Biosimilars from monoclonal antibodies in oncology. Patient safety first of all", which took place yesterday in Naples at the Pascale Institute. The important work carried out by the National Pharmacovigilance Network has, in fact, confirmed over the years the safety of biosimilars such as, for example, erythropoietins or growth hormones. On the other hand, there are several implications for biosimilars of monoclonal antibodies (mAb), arriving in a few years, which due to their complexity require more accurate surveillance processes and special registers and clinical studies with validated endpoints. The Decree establishes that "the biosimilar drug, with a lower therapy cost, must be used as the first choice for patients who have never been treated for all the authorized therapeutic indications, unless otherwise judged clinically". «The position of Aifa» summarized by Simon Creazzola, of the Sifo (Italian Society of Hospital Pharmacists) board «clarifies that biologicals and biosimilars cannot be considered in the same way as equivalent products,
