JointHealth™ express November 18, 2010
Special BC Edition: Making Sense of New Treatment Options for Autoimmune Diseases
The use of biologic response modifiers or "biologics" (medicines created by biological processes, as opposed to chemically) has improved patient care, profoundly.
Ensuring that British Columbians who most need treatment with biologic medications have provincial reimbursement access is a priority for patient groups like Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE). But more recently, another issue has emerged that directly affects the principle of patient choice in this area - Subsequent Entry Biologics (SEBs).
In this special BC issue of JointHealth™ monthly, Arthritis Consumer Experts wants to help British Columbian patients to understand the complexities behind the development, regulation, and BC PharmaCare listings of SEBs.
The topics covered in this issue are:
Special BC Edition: Making Sense of New Treatment Options for Autoimmune Diseases
The use of biologic response modifiers or "biologics" (medicines created by biological processes, as opposed to chemically) has improved patient care, profoundly.
Ensuring that British Columbians who most need treatment with biologic medications have provincial reimbursement access is a priority for patient groups like Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE). But more recently, another issue has emerged that directly affects the principle of patient choice in this area - Subsequent Entry Biologics (SEBs).
In this special BC issue of JointHealth™ monthly, Arthritis Consumer Experts wants to help British Columbian patients to understand the complexities behind the development, regulation, and BC PharmaCare listings of SEBs.
The topics covered in this issue are:
- Making sense of treatment options for autoimmune diseases.
- Questions and Answers about SEBs.
- ACE recommendations on SEB regulations and public drug formulary reimbursement in Canada.
- What can ACE members and JointHealth™ subscribers do to raise awareness about SEBs in Canada?
Arthritis Consumer Experts
ACE thanks Arthritis Research Canada (ARC) for its scientific review of ACE and JointHealth™ information and education programs.