Welcome

Anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) biosimilars have emerged as a cost-effective treatment option in rheumatic diseases, with potential to improve global inequities in treatment access. Explore:

• Unmet needs in rheumatic disease management, and how anti-TNF biosimilars can facilitate early treatment access
• Benefits of early treatment with anti-TNFs in rheumatic diseases, compared to delayed initiation
• Our Webinar series with expert commentary on anti-TNF biosimilars versus their reference biologics, and tips for integration into clinical practice

This Learning Zone explores unmet needs in rheumatic disease management, including inequities in treatment access, and how anti-TNF biosimilars can help to address this gap. Discover more about TNF as a treatment target, the range of anti-TNF biosimilars available, biosimilar development and the clinical benefits of early initiation of anti-TNFs compared to delayed initiation.

Our webinar series, chaired by Professor Peter Taylor, explores the evidence for anti-TNF biosimilars in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis, providing expert insights into integration of biosimilars in clinical practice.

Meet the experts

Professor Peter Taylor

Professor Peter C. Taylor trained at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and gained a PhD from the University of London. He holds the Norman Collisson chair of musculoskeletal sciences at Oxford University where he is the Director of Clinical Sciences at the Botnar Research Centre. Professor Taylor has over thirty years of experience in clinical trial design and international leadership in studies of biologic and small molecular therapies in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis including the earliest seminal trails of anti-TNF and anti-IL-6 receptor therapy. He has specialist clinical interests in novel therapies, rheumatoid and early arthritis.

Financial disclosures: Professor Taylor has declared research grants from Celgene, Galapagos; and consultation fees from AbbVie, Biogen, Galapagos, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Novartis, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, Nordic Pharma, Fresenius and UCB.

Professor Christopher Edwards

Professor Edwards is a Consultant Rheumatologist and Co-Director of the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility within the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, having previously worked as a consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. Professor Edwards trained with Professor Maini at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology during the early years of anti-TNF trials and with Professor Graham Hughes at the St Thomas’ Hospital Lupus Clinic in London. He has been an Investigator on a number of clinical trials of therapies for inflammatory rheumatic diseases and more recently has worked on COVID vaccine (Oxford/Astra-Zeneca studies and COVBOOST) and therapeutic studies (AGILE Platform). As Co-Director of the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility he is engaged with the running of a large translational research facility with FIH and phase I experience. Professor Edwards is Clinical Director of the Southampton Musculoskeletal Research Unit, a recognised EULAR centre of excellence and is the Chair of the EULAR Education Committee.

Financial disclosures: Professor Edwards has declared honoraria, advisory boards, speakers bureau, research support from Abbvie, BMS, Biogen, Celgene, Fresenius, Gilead, Janssen, Lilly, Mundipharma, Pfizer, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi and UCB.

Professor Josef Smolen

Josef Smolen is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He received his MD degree from the University of Vienna, trained there in Immunology, Medicine and Rheumatology and was research fellow at the Arthritis Institute at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. 1989-2017 he was Chairman of 2nd Department of Medicine at Hietzing Hospital and 1995-2018 Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology at Medical University of Vienna, where he also acted as Chairman of the Department of Medicine 3 from 2007-2018.

Financial disclosures: Professor Smolen has declared research grants from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Lilly, Novartis and Roche; and consultation fees from AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Astro, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Celltrion, Chugai, Gilead, ILTOO, Janssen, Lilly, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis- Sandoz, Pfizer, R-Pharm, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, and UCB.