Biotherapies: role of the hospital pharmacist

Biotherapies are revolutionising medical care, particularly in the case of serious and sometimes rare diseases, where they can change the prognosis of our patients. These new medicines are arriving in our hospitals, so it is legitimate to ask what impact their specific nature will have on how hospital pharmacists manage their pharmaceutical handling and circuit towards the patients.
Having defined the scope of biotherapies, we will attempt to answer several questions during this conference. The first will be to understand where we are heading in terms of types of molecules, types of galenic formulations, etc. The second will be to summarise the technical constraints involved in reconstituting, storing and delivering these types of products, in order to answer the question of how to respond to these new challenges in a pharmaceutical way. Possible adaptations to our existing procedures and premises will also be discussed. This presentation should be seen as an introduction to the following presentations in the same session, which will be more specific to a particular type of drug or a particular pharmaceutical site and which could be taken as examples on handling those new products. The important thing, in our view, is to take a proactive approach to meeting the challenges posed by these extremely promising new therapeutic strategies.