• anaesthetics
• anaesthesia
• pain management

Biosimilar medicines and anticoagulants will again feature prominently on the Synergy Satellite agenda of the 24th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP). From 27 March to 29 March 2019, the association is inviting hospital pharmacists from all over the globe to Barcelona, Spain for its annual conference. This year’s theme is ‘Personalised Hospital Pharmacy— meeting the needs of every patient’.

To help hospital pharmacists prepare for and provide cutting edge innovation in service delivery and patient care, EAHP has developed Synergy Satellites. Synergy Satellites are accredited high-level sessions developed and managed by the EAHP Scientific Committee and supported by industry educational grants. The Synergy programme is based on a needs assessment conducted by the scientific committee and attending participants may obtain continuing education points.

The use of biosimilar medicines is widespread in many countries. However, their uptake varies across Europe and even within different areas of the same country. The European Medicines Agency has developed a robust regulatory framework which ensures that a biosimilar can only receive a marketing authorisation once it is demonstrated to have no meaningful clinical difference from its originator. The lack of awareness of this requirement may make some clinicians reluctant to use what they see as inferior versions of the biologics. The Synergy Satellite Biosimilars: challenging misconceptions, optimising uptake, maximising value (financial support was provided …