Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2017; 23(11): 1932-1943
Published online Mar 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i11.1932
Insights on the use of biosimilars in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease
Michael K Zheng, David Q Shih, Gary C Chen
Michael K Zheng, David Q Shih, F. Widjaja Foundation, Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, United States
Gary C Chen, Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89113, United States
Author contributions: Zheng MK wrote the manuscript; Shih DQ and Chen GC provided critical revisions and final approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Gary C Chen, MD, Comprehensive Digestive Institute of Nevada, 8530 West Sunset Road, Suite 230, Las Vegas, NV 89113, United States. garychen@nevadagastro.com
Telephone: +1-702-4834483 Fax: +1-702-4834493
Received: November 23, 2016
Peer-review started: November 25, 2016
First decision: December 19, 2016
Revised: January 5, 2017
Accepted: February 17, 2017
Article in press: February 17, 2017
Published online: March 21, 2017
Core Tip

Core tip: The expiration of patent protection for various biologics and increasing health care expenses has paved the way for biosimilars to enter the market. The introduction of biosimilars is expected to produce cost savings in the health care industry as well as provide patients with inflammatory bowel disease with wider access to treatment.