Dear Reader,

As we reach the final issue of BioDrugs for 2018, we wish to reflect on another successful year’s achievements, and to thank all those who have contributed their time and effort to guarantee the high quality of our content.


2018 was a successful year for BioDrugs. Over 50 articles have been published; the most popular of these, in terms of downloads from SpringerLink, have been:

  • Biosimilarity and Interchangeability: Principles and Evidence: A Systematic Review. McKinnon, R.A., Cook, M., Liauw, W. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-017-0256-z

  • Anticalin® Proteins as Therapeutic Agents in Human Diseases. Rothe, C. & Skerra, A. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0278-1

  • Expanding the Boundaries of Biotherapeutics with Bispecific Antibodies. Husain, B. & Ellerman, D. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0299-9

  • Epoetin Biosimilars in the Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia: 10 Years’ Experience Gained. Aapro, M., Krendyukov, A., Schiestl, M. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0262-9

  • Knowledge of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting and the Pharmacovigilance of Biological Medicines: A Survey of Healthcare Professionals in Ireland. O’Callaghan, J., Griffin, B.T., Morris, J.M. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0281-6

  • Ensuring Product Quality, Consistency and Patient Supply over Time for a Large-Volume Biologic: Experience with Remicade®. Melsheimer, R., Calmann, M., DeRitis, A. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0300-7

  • Determining the Value of Two Biologic Drugs for Chronic Inflammatory Skin Diseases: Results of a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. Zozaya, N., Martínez-Galdeano, L., Alcalá, B. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0284-3

  • Applications of Bioengineered 3D Tissue and Tumor Organoids in Drug Development and Precision Medicine: Current and Future. Devarasetty, M., Mazzocchi, A.R. & Skardal, A. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-017-0258-x

  • Comparative Safety of Originator and Biosimilar Epoetin Alfa Drugs: An Observational Prospective Multicenter Study. Stoppa, G., D’Amore, C., Conforti, A. et al. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0293-2

  • Guselkumab for the Treatment of Psoriasis. Machado, Á. & Torres, T. BioDrugs (2018) 32: 119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-018-0265-6


Social media sharing of information is becoming more important and is another metric with which to measure the reach of articles. This year the following articles published in BioDrugs scored highly on the Altmetric system:


The quality of articles published in the journal is also reflected in its most recent impact factor of 3.825, and a percentile ranking of 81% in the Pharmacology and Pharmacy category.


Other journals in the Adis Premier Journals Portfolio (http://www.springer.com/gp/adis) continue to prosper with substantial increases in usage year on year. In addition, this year has seen Applied Health Economics and Health Policy receive its first impact factor.


We thank the authors who have contributed articles to BioDrugs over the course of 2018. The skill and dedication of all authors are critical to the continued publication of the journal. The quality of published articles is also testament to the significant efforts of the peer reviewers, whose commitment ensures that the journal’s content is held to the highest possible standard. We would like to thank the following individuals who acted as reviewers for BioDrugs in the last 12 months:

Samuel Adegbola, UK

Georges Adunlin, USA

Aikaterini Alexaki, USA

Ayad K. Ali, USA

Filipe Araujo, Portugal

Ramon Arens, the Netherlands

Raja Atreya, Germany

George Bakalos, Switzerland

Adam W. Barb, USA

Daniel G. Bausch, UK

David S.H. Bell, USA

Fernando Bermejo, Spain

Ulrich Bickel, USA

Niels W. Boone, the Netherlands

Maria Bova, Italy

Michael Brehm, USA

Vitalis Briedis, Lithuania

Wallace Brownlee, UK

Anna E. Bucsics, Austria

Benedetta Bussolati, Italy

Gilberto Castañeda Hernández, Mexico

Jongwha Chang, USA

Andrea Chiricozzi, Italy

Kian Fan Chung, UK

Hillel P. Cohen, USA

Stanley B. Cohen, USA

Paul Cornes, UK

Ben Cowper, UK

Tünde Csepany, Hungary

Paola M. Cutroneo, Italy

Romano Danesi, Italy

Tapan Das, USA

Ronilda D’Cunha, USA

Birgitte de Blasio, Norway

Paul Declerck, Belgium

Fabien Despas, France

Souvik Dey, USA

Brett Doble, UK

Christian Domingo, Spain

Kyla Driscoll, USA

Bruno A. Duso, Italy

Hans C. Ebbers, the Netherlands

Benjamin Ehst, USA

Niklas Ekman, Finland

Arielle Elkrief, Canada

Johan G. Eriksson, Finland

Mahyar Etminan, Canada

Stefano Fais, Italy

Steven R. Feldman, USA

Jackie Ferguson, USA

Nicolas Fischer, Switzerland

Mathurin Flamant, France

Julien Freitag, Australia

Wayne Furman, USA

Yan‐Feng Gao, China

Antonio Garcia-Merino, Spain

Pere Gascon, Spain

Salah Ghabri, France

Alessandra Gianoncelli, Italy

Thijs J. Giezen, the Netherlands

David E. Gilham, Belgium

Ellen Goldman, USA

David J. Goldsmith, UK

Jens Greve, Germany

Alastair Greystoke, UK

Roberta Gualtierotti, Italy

Matthew M. Gubin, USA

László Gulácsi, Hungary

Lora Hamuro, USA

Kenta Haraya, Japan

Gaya Hettiarachchi, USA

Tad Holak, Poland

David J. Hunter, Australia

Jin Ah Hwang, Republic of Korea

Shu-ichi Ikeda, Japan

Ylenia Ingrasciotta, Italy

Lulu Jia, China

Bernd Jilma, Austria

Gareth W. Jones, UK

Jagath Junutula, USA

Leonid Kagan, USA

Hye-Na Kang, Switzerland

Kaan Kavakli, Turkey

Frieder Keller, Germany

Chava Kimchi-Sarfaty, USA

Agnete Kirkeby, Denmark

Tadamitsu Kishimoto, Japan

Gary Kobinger, Canada

Andriy Krendyukov, Germany

Pekka Kurki, Finland

Byungsuk Kwon, Republic of Korea

Tamar Lasky, USA

Roger Leblanc, USA

Sang Joon Lee, Republic of Korea

Roberto Leone, Italy

Victor Levin, USA

Haojun Liang, China

Robert Likic, Croatia

Gerald P. Linette, USA

Liming Liu, USA

Stephen Liu, USA

Francesco Locatelli, Italy

Lorena Lorefice, Italy

Nicholas J. Lowe, UK

Michael Makris, UK

Charles J. Malemud, USA

Spencer D. Martin, Canada

Inmaculada Martinez Saguer, Germany

Josephine A. Mauskopf, USA

Kelley Mayden, USA

Tim Menzen, Germany

Meriem Messaoudene, Canada

Chad Mirkin, USA

Massimo Morbidelli, Switzerland

Shahrul Mt-Isa, UK

Stephen Muench, UK

Giorgio Mustacchi, Italy

Peter P. Nash, Australia

Reza Nejadnik, Germany

Dario Neri, Switzerland

Patrick Neven, Belgium

Chee-Keng Ng, USA

Naoyuki Nogami, Japan

Paul J. Orchard, USA

John J. O’Shea, USA

Ramesh Palaparthy, USA

Nikolaos Papanas, Greece

Vidhya Parameswaran, Canada

Maria Kristina Parr, Germany

Andrew Pickett, UK

Christian Pifl, Austria

Sandra Prior, UK

Lluís Puig, Spain

Wolfgang F. Richter, Switzerland

Wolf Rogowski, Germany

Stefan Rose-John, Germany

Gargi Roy, USA

Thomas Sakmar, USA

Atsushi Sakuraba, USA

Melody Sauerborn, Germany

Zuben Sauna, USA

Justin M. Scheer, USA

Huub Schellekens, the Netherlands

Marc Scherlinger, France

Gerold Schuler, Germany

Tim Schutte, the Netherlands

Nicolo Scuderi, Italy

Monica Serban, USA

Anil Shanker, USA

Susan Sharfstein, USA

Lenny Shultz, USA

Marina Simian, Argentina

Susan F. Slovin, USA

Justin Stebbing, UK

Stella Stergiopoulos, USA

Michael A. Stoto, USA

Marion Subklewe, Germany

Silvio Tafuri, Italy

Yoshiya Tanaka, Japan

Peter C. Taylor, UK

Fabio Teixeira, Portugal

Neil Templeton, USA

Darren Tomlinson, UK

Tiago Torres, Portugal

Jean-Hugues Trouvin, France

Marco Tuccori, Italy

Susumu Uchiyama, Japan

Eduard Urich, Switzerland

Leon A.G. van Aerts, the Netherlands

Eline van Overbeeke, Belgium

Arnold G. Vulto, the Netherlands

Ed Waddingham, UK

Martina Weise, Germany

Gary Wong, China

Yuhe Renee Yang, USA

Dae Hyun Yoo, Republic of Korea

John Zalcberg, Australia

Andrew Zloza, USA


In addition, we would like to thank the members of the journal’s Honorary Editorial Board, who have acted as peer reviewers and authors, and have provided guidance on journal content, policy and processes:


L. Bergmann, Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat, Frankfurt, Germany

E. De Clercq, Rega Instituut, Leuven, Belgium

G.D. Demetri, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

T.R. Flotte, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

T.M. Ganey, Vivex Biomedical, Atlanta, GA, USA

A. Ganser, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

H-P. Gerber, 3T Biosciences, Palo Alto, CA, USA

B. Groner, Georg-Speyer-Haus, Institute for Biomedical Research, Frankfurt, Germany

F. Guilhot, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France

W.H. Hildebrand, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, USA

S.L. Lightman, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK

P. Moingeon, Stallergenes, Paris, France

D. Müller, Universitat Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

J.L. Murray, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

W. Park, Inha University Medical School, Incheon, Republic of Korea

C. Picado, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

T. Schirrmann, YUMAB GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany

C.A. Stein, City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

R.C. Stevens, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

W.R. Strohl, BiStro Biotech Consulting, Bridgewater, NJ, USA

B.A. Sullenger, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

J. Terrett, Crispr Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA

P. Trzonkowski, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland

J.W. Van der Meer, University Medical Center St Radboud, Nijmegen, the Netherlands


We do hope that you have found the articles published throughout the year in BioDrugs to be interesting and informative. The editorial schedule for 2019 is well under way, and we are looking forward to bringing you many high-quality and authoritative articles over the coming year.


With best wishes

Kathy Fraser

Editor