Medical students' knowledge and awareness levels about biologics and biosimilars: the earlier the better?

Although most studies about physician knowledge and attitude toward biosimilars have been conducted on specialists, studies addressing this issue among medical students are missing.

We aimed to evaluate the knowledge and awareness levels of biologics and biosimilars of medical students who will encounter these products soon.

In this cross-sectional study, 228 medical students were grouped as preclinical (Years 1,2,3) and clinical (Years 4,5,6). Students were given a survey including demographic (grade and gender) and questions about assessing their knowledge about biologics and biosimilars.

Clinical students' knowledge was better than preclinical students (54% and 25%, respectively). Students did not know much about biosimilars (7-20%) and thought a biosimilar is identical to its generic product (35%). More than 90% of the students thought that a lesson about biologics should be included in the medical curriculum.

Our study showed that medical students had inadequate knowledge about biosimilars. We suggest that to establish a positive attitude toward prescribing biosimilars, knowledge about biologics and biosimilars should be delivered to physicians early, while they are still medical students, by including this topic into the medical curriculum.