The French Lupus Association (AFL+) warns about biosimilar drugs.
- France currently markets around forty biosimilar drugs, which include molecules different from the original drugs and have specific methods of administration.
- As a result, the French Lupus Association warns about biosimilar drugs.
- Systemic lupus erythematosus or systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that affects 30,000 to 40,000 people in France.
In a press release, the French Lupus Association (AFL+) alert on biosimilar medicines.
“France currently markets around forty biosimilar drugs, which include molecules different from the original drugs and have particular methods of administration, which can pose a problem for patients”begins the French Lupus Association.
“For example, in the case of self-injectable biosimilars, two situations are frequently reported: skin redness/irritation at the injection site (this effect is often linked to the formulation of the excipient, which does not treat the disease but is there to stabilize the active ingredient) and a loss of product at the time of injection (due to the low-cost mechanism of the auto-injection pen which is not suitable for everyone)”, illustrate the activists. “In these two examples, this leads to poorer adherence to treatment and an underdosage of the drug in the patient,” they continue.
Lupus: call for better information on biosimilar drugs
The French Lupus Association is therefore calling for better patient information and the establishment of drug traceability.
For Marianne Rivière, president of the AFL+, “It is up to doctors in particular to discuss with their patients and give them understandable information about their treatments, otherwise it is guaranteed failure.”
It also states: “AFL+ strives to ensure that the rights of patients are respected and proposes the establishment of traceability of medicines to avoid errors and reassure patients. This is the case for the meat that we buy in supermarket, this is the case for blood products and it must be the same for biosimilars”.
Lupus: symptoms and incidence
Systemic lupus erythematosus or systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that affects 30,000 to 40,000 people in France. Particularly trying, it manifests itself by symptoms that affect different organs and biological abnormalities.
Lupus is characterized by the alternation of periods of flare-ups and periods of remission, during which the symptoms gradually diminish, totally or in part. These periods of remission can last several weeks, months or even years. People are therefore not necessarily sick continuously throughout their lives, even if it is a chronic pathology.
Like all autoimmune diseases, lupus affects women in 90% of cases.
