Croatia is below the EU average in the use of biosimilar drugs, which are much cheaper and more available than original biologic drugs, a conference heard earlier this week, organised to mark ten years of the use of biosimilars in Croatia's healthcare.

Countries with more biosimilars in use have better control of treatment outcomes, costs and healthcare as a whole, said Jerko Jaksic, president of the Croatian Employers Association’s association of drug manufacturers.

The conference brought together public health professionals and representatives of patients and drug manufacturers.

Biosimilars contain the same active ingredient as original biologics and their production begins after patents on biologics expire.

Biosimilars help in the treatment or prevention of many illnesses, including hormone deficiency, anemia, cancer, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.

In Europe, they were first put on the market in 1982. Today they are transforming healthcare in key treatment areas, improving safe access for patients and the sustainability of European health systems.

In 2020, these drugs helped Croatia’s health system save over HRK 200 million (€26.7m), Jaksic said.

He said the key to every treatment was to make it available to as many patients as possible and that the lower price of treatment with biosimilars made that possible.

In the past few years, 67% more patients with autoimmune diseases in Croatia have been treated at only a 19% higher cost of the entire treatment, the conference heard.

The health minister’s envoy, Vera Katalinic Jankovic, said biosimilars played an important part in the treatment of non-communicable chronic diseases because they “make it possible to begin treatment as soon as possible, which is very important for the outcome.”

She said it was important to “remove the stigma” from biosimilars and that she was confident Croatia would come closer to the EU average in their use in the next ten years.