by Amanda Conschafter, blog editor
The Biologics Prescribers Collaborative, a group representing physicians who regularly prescribe biologics, has joined the Alliance for Patient Access. As part of AfPA, the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative will enhance its capacity to serve as an educational resource for health care providers seeking to learn more about biosimilars and policymakers and regulators considering policy issues impacting patient access to these therapies.
Led by three physician co-conveners, the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative’s members include: the Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations, The American Gastroenterological Association and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The group aims to ensure that sound policies are in place to promote the safest possible use of all biologics, including biosimilars, for all patients.
Specifically, the collaborative conveys prescribers’ viewpoints to regulators as they consider how to create a transparent, science-based framework for biological medicines. In the past, the collaborative has weighed in on distinct names for biosimilar medications and transparent prescribing information – topics that the FDA will continue to consider in 2016. As part of AfPA, the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative plans to redouble its efforts toward informing regulatory standards that protect access and facilitate pharmacovigilance.
The collaborative will also work in tandem with AfPA’s National Physicians Biologics Working Group. While the collaborative assembles prescriber groups and specialty organizations to offer opinion leadership on regulatory issues, the National Physicians Biologics Working Group educates and mobilizes individual prescribers to advocate on these same topics. The two groups will continue to address the importance of the physician-patient relationship and the need for safe, transparent policies for biological medicines.
