TURK DERMATOLOJI DERGISI-TURKISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, vol.8, no.2, pp.104-107, 2014 (ESCI)
Biotechnological drugs (biological agents, biologics) are medical products, which are produced by DNA technology and hybridoma methods. Nowadays these drugs are effectively used in the treatment of several diseases with a consistently increasing diversity and indication spectrum. Psoriasis is the major dermatological disease in which biologics are used successfully. With the use of these drugs important improvements were achieved in the treatment of the disease. However these drugs are very expensive. To preclude this disadvantage, biosimilar drugs have been produced recently. Together with the appearance of biosimilars in the markets some problems and concerns related to these drugs begin to appear as well. First of all biosimilars and original biologics are not identical molecules and their efficacies and side effects may be different. Secondly their naming, tracking, interchangeability and substitution criteria are not clear yet. In this article we discuss the opinions and recommendations of major health authorities in the world about these concerns.