[Biosimilars in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): Experiences and perceptions of german gastroenterologists]

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recently approved the first anti-TNF-alpha biosimilar for infliximab (CT-P13) (trade names: Inflectra^® and Remsima^®) in Germany. Over the past year, German gastroenterologists gained experience treating IBD-patients with infliximab biosimilars (IFX-biosimilars). To evaluate their experiences and opinions on biosimilars, we conducted a nationwide online survey among German gastroenterologists. Our results are based on the assessment of 449 questionnaires. Although 61 % of the participants had already prescribed IFX-biosimilars, about two thirds of these participating gastroenterologists with IFX-biosimilar prescription stated their experience as based on fewer than 10 IBD-patients treated with IFX-biosimilars. Only 15 % considered themselves to be very experienced with biosimilars. The lower price in comparison to the originator is seen as the most important advantage of biosimilars (71 %). More than two thirds of the survey participants requested specific gastroenterological trials and registries to increase the data available on biosimilars in IBD-patients (68 %).