La tutela della libertà terapeutica nella prescrizione di medicinali: spunti di analisi comparatistica sul caso dei farmaci biologici e biosimilari

Local health authorities, physicians, drug industries and pharmacists have
the duty to match saving exigencies with the high level of patient’s health
and safety protection, even when a new and less expensive generation of
drugs is available for patients.
The delicate balance of choices within the context of the adoption of an
originator biologic drug or its biosimilar, exemplified which critical issues
physician, first of all, have to face when deciding which therapeutic option
is the most suitable one for the specific patient he has to nurse.
At this regard, physicians’ right to free therapeutic choice could be subjected
to several constrains. The present article wishes to explore these “explicit”
and/or “implicit” constrains, reasoning also on the important role of physicians’
choices in the field of biologic drugs after the advent of biosimilars.