Selection and use

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines supports countries in the development of National Essential Medicines Lists which are the basis for procurement and reimbursement decision-making.

Several biotherapeutics and their biosimilars are listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) including anti-tumour necrosis factors, asparaginase, pegaspargase, rituximab, trastuzumab, filgrastim, nivolumab/pembrolizumab, erythropoietin, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWE), insulin (including long-acting analogues), anti-rabies virus monoclonal antibody and bevacizumab.

WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines

The WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines has recommended that quality-assured biosimilars be interchangeable with the biological medicines included in the EML and eligible for selection and procurement at country level.

Recommendation on interchangeability (page xxv)

Journal articles

The “Square Box”: Therapeutic Equivalence as a Foundation of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, Front. Pharmacol., 11 September 2020