Price competition for biological medicines has been modest before the arrival of biosimilars on the market. In Europe, the first biosimilar, somatropin, was approved in 2006 and the first biosimilar monoclonal antibody, infliximab, more complex biological medicinal product, was approved in 2013. Finland was one of the first European countries to able to launch the biosimilar infliximab in the autumn of 2013. Several other countries, such as Denmark and Sweden, launched the product in February 2015. The originator infliximab, Remicade, was one of the ten best-selling pharmaceuticals in wholesale prices in Finland in 2014 and 2015.

Infliximab is a hospital product and after biosimilar infliximab entered the markets, it was assumed to cause price competition and to generate savings for hospitals. The purpose of the thesis was to find out about the introduction of biosimilars in Finnish hospitals, to determine whether price competition was achieved, whether savings were achieved by using the biosimilar and how the savings were used. The study was carried out using a Word based questionnaire which was emailed to groups with clinical experience of biosimilar infliximab or who are responsible for budgets or drug purchasing. In the theoretical part, what is meant by biological and biosimilar medicines, the situation of biosimilars in other European countries, and the use and cost of biological medicines in Finland were investigated. The sources of information were, IMS statistics, Fimea and EMA publications, and professional magazines. Information was also searched through PubMed. The author's own interest in and familiarity with the topic were the reasons for the choice of subject.

According to the results of the studies, in 2015, infliximab was among the third most expensive biological medicines in the hospitals (at purchasing prices). Hospitals were able to achieve cost savings by using biosimilar infliximab and in most cases savings were used to manage medication costs. In addition, the cost savings did enable commissioning of new medicinal products to the pharmaceutical formulary and made also possible to treat more patients with the infliximab. Also, a company that markets the infliximab originator product, Remicade, participate in the price competition by lowering its price (at least in some hospitals) already before the biosimilar infliximab took part in the tendering for the first time. According to estimates from pharmacists, new biosimilars entering the market are expected to provide cost savings of up to EUR 3 - 5 million for a single hospital over the next five years.

More biosimilars are coming into the market in the near future, and it would be interesting to follow, how biological medicines price competition in hospitals evolves. Will the originator products participate in the price competition and what will be the price difference between the biosimilar and originator? On the other hand, the market situation is also changing with regards to biosimilars because more biosimilars with the same active substance enter the market and the biosimilars start to compete against each other. It would be interesting to know how this will affect the pricing of biological medicines.