Biologic medicines represent a significant portion of the national healthcare budget and cost the PBS approximately $2.84 billion in 2017*1. It is an area where significant cost savings could be realised, with savings from biosimilars over the next five years estimated at $880 million2. These savings can be used to subsidise new biologic therapies, new indications of current biologic therapies, or other medicines and services, increasing patient access to treatments throughout the healthcare system.
The next decade will see a number of biologic medicines, across multiple therapeutic areas, coming off patent and many new originator biologic and biosimilar medicines registered. The biologics market is a constantly evolving area that is at the forefront of modern medical research.
Some key biologic medicines are listed below, categorised into their therapeutic areas.
*All products contributing to this IMS sales figure are listed on the PBS for reimbursement, however not all sales may have been PBS reimbursable sales.