WEDNESDAY, May 31, 2023 -- For patients with psoriasis, the efficacy and safety of biosimilars and originators are not clinically or statistically significantly different, according to a review published online May 31 in JAMA Dermatology.

Duc Binh Phan, from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues compared the efficacy/effectiveness and safety of biosimilars to originator biologics for treatment of psoriasis. Data were included from 14 trials and three cohort studies.

Overall, 12 trials compared biosimilars with originators in originator-naive patients and 11 trials compared switching from originator to biosimilar with continuous originator treatment. The researchers found that between the comparators, there was no clinically or statistically significant difference in the rates of achieving 75 percent improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores or in the risks for adverse events at week 16 and week 52. In two cohort studies, effectiveness and safety outcomes did not differ between originators and biosimilars; more adverse events were seen in patients who switched to biosimilars of adalimumab at 12 months in one study. A low risk for bias was seen in three trials, while 11 trials had a moderate risk for bias and all cohort studies had a moderate-to-high risk for bias.

"Biosimilars are an important and rapidly expanding class of biologic drugs. From a societal point of view, adopting biosimilars could provide advantages, including improved access to treatment for a larger basis of patients and cost savings on drugs," write the authors of an accompanying editorial.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.