Biologics and biosimilar drug prescriptions in the last six months (FOI)Biologics and biosimilar drug prescriptions in the last six months (FOI)
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by States of Jersey and published on
11 August 2015.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request
I have a Freedom of Information request regarding biologics and biosimilar prescribing. Could you please provide me with the following numbers of patients treated in the last six months with the following drugs for the conditions listed below:
| Abatacept (Orencia) | | | |
| Adalimumab (Humira) | | | |
| Apremilast (Otezla) | | | |
| Certolizumab Pegol (Cimzia) | | | |
| Etanercept (Enbrel) | | | |
| Golimumab (Simponi) | | | |
| Infliximab (Remicade) | | | |
| Infliximab biosimilar (Inflectra) | | | |
| Infliximab biosimilar (Remsima) | | | |
| Rituximab (MabThera) | | | |
| Secukinumab (Cosentyx) | | | |
| Tocilizumab (RoActemra) | | | |
| Ustekinumab (Stelara) | | | |
Response
| Abatacept (Orencia) | | | | 8 |
| Adalimumab (Humira) | | | | 51 |
| Apremilast (Otezla) | | | | 0 |
| Certolizumab Pegol (Cimzia) | | | | 34 |
| Etanercept (Enbrel) | | | | 42 |
| Golimumab (Simponi) | | | | 11 |
| Infliximab (Remicade) | | | | Not possible to determine from pharmacy data as drug is held as stock on ward and not issued to individual patients from pharmacy |
| Infliximab biosimilar (Inflectra) | | | |
| Infliximab biosimilar (Remsima) | | | |
| Rituximab (MabThera) | | | | 11 |
| Secukinumab (Cosentyx) | | | | 0 |
| Tocilizumab (RoActemra) | | | | 4 |
| Ustekinumab (Stelara) | | | | 1 |
Above are figures from the hospital’s pharmacy system. It is not possible for us to identify (from pharmacy data) the precise condition being treated. Therefore, the hospital’s pharmacy system can provide total numbers of patients who have received at least one dose of the drugs in the last six months. Some patients may have received more than one drug (they may have been switched from one to another during the six month period) therefore there may be some duplication of patients so the cumulative total does not necessarily represent the exact number of different patients currently receiving these medicines.
The hospital will be unable to provide the precise condition being treated as this information is not readily available. The department would need to employ someone to review medical notes for all patients to identify individual diagnosis. It would not be in the public interest to undertake this task as the Rheumatology department has clinical priorities.
Exemptions and refusals applied to this response
Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. To answer this question as specified would take more than 12.5 hours of work; therefore the department is unable to provide the answer to this question.
Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014
gov.je