A Pioneer and Global Leader in Biosimilars Sandoz Announced a New Global ‘Act4Biosimilars’ Initiative to Improve Patient Access and Increase Adoption

On June 1, 2022, ‘Act4Biosimilars,' a new global initiative, was launched by Sandoz with the aim to help address health inequality and inequityacross the world. Act4Biosimilars intends to increase the patient access to advanced medicines by easing greater accessibility, approvability, affordability, and acceptability(the 4 A’s) of biosimilars. This initiative, supported by a multidisciplinary Steering Committee of healthcare professionals, biosimilar experts, patient advocacy leaders, and industry leaders worldwide, aims to increase global biosimilar adoption by at least 30% in more than 30 countries by 2030 per Sandoz.

According to specialists, a biosimilar is a successor to a biological medicine with an expired patent and lost exclusivity. They match their respective reference medicine in safety, quality, and efficacy. Hereafter, the biosimilar is likely to behave similarly to the reference medicine in all patient populations and indications where the reference medicines are approved. Biosimilars are usually used to prevent and treat numerous life-threatening diseases such as psoriasis, arthritis, cancer, and diabetes.

‘Act4Biosimilars’frameworks the 12 goals identified under the 4As by the Steering Committee to attain the mission. These comprise ensuring equitable pricing streamlining biosimilar development, and involving patients in treatment decisions. Moreover, the Steering Committee is working on an Action Plan to provide the tools, strategies, and activities required to empower and equip stakeholders to realize these 12 goals as an immediate next step. The Country Indicators Maps would support the Action Plan to track and measure the variations driven by associations, groups, and organizations worldwide.