Health-related quality of life and costs of switching originator infliximab to biosimilar one in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Effectiveness, efficacy and safety of biosimilar infliximab (CT-P13) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients has been shown in previous studies. Limited data exist on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of switching originator to biosimilar infliximab (IFX) in IBD patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate impact of switching originator to biosimilar IFX on HRQoL, disease activity, and health care costs in IBD maintenance treatment. In this single-center prospective observational study, all IBD patients receiving maintenance IFX therapy were switched to biosimilar IFX. HRQoL was measured using the generic 15D health-related quality of life instrument (15D) utility measurement and the disease-specific Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Crohn Disease Activity Index (CDAI) or Partial Mayo Score (pMayo), and fecal calprotectin (FC) served for evaluation of disease activity. Data were collected at time of switching and 3 and 12 months after switching. Patients’ characteristics, clinical background information and costs were collected from patient records and the hospital's electronic database. Fifty-four patients were included in the analysis. No statistically significant changes were observed in 15D, CDAI, pMayo, and FC during 1-year follow-up. IBDQ scores were higher (P = .018) in Crohn disease 3 months after switching than at time of switching. Costs of biosimilar IFX were one-third of costs of originator one. Total costs related to secondary health care (excluding costs of IFX), were similar before and after the onset of biosimilar IFX. HRQoL and disease activity were after switching from originator to biosimilar IFX comparable, but the costs of biosimilar IFX were only one-third of those of the originator one.