Biologic therapies committee. What does it provide?

Objective: To assess the general healthcare impact of a Biological  Therapies Commitee (immune-mediated inflammatory diseases) through  prescription habits, pre-biological studies and immunization.

Method: A quasi-experimental study was conducted on all naïve patients  of legal age who started treatment with a biological agent for an immune- mediated inflammatory disease the year before and the year after the  creation of the Biological Therapies Committee.

Results: A total of 31 patients treated in 2016 and 40 patients treated in 2018 were included. Prescriptions of tumor necrosis factor alpha  inhibitor drugs decreased in 2018 (from 80.6% to 45.0%, p < 0.05), while prescriptions of interleukin 12/23 inhibitors increased (from 12.9% to  35.0%, p < 0.05). Tuberculosis screening was statistically different  between the two periods: the number of interferon gamma release assays  performed was higher in 2018 (from 9.7% to 80.0%, p < 0.01) and the  proportion of patients who successfully underwent chemoprophylaxis was  higher in 2018 (from 36.4% to 81.8%, p < 0.05). The proportion of tests  requested for the study of viral pathologies and the number of vaccines  administered were also higher in 2018.

Conclusions: The development of a specific Biological Therapies  Committee allows healthcare improvements, contributing to a deeper  understanding of the medications and to preventing the infection-related  adverse events. It would therefore seem advisable to develop specialized  committees akin to the Biological Therapies Committee in other domains.