Biologics and Advanced Therapies

South Asian patients are prescribed biologics less often, use more corticosteroids, and experience longer delays before starting advanced therapies compared to white patients. Some patients delayed advanced therapies because they viewed biologics or injectable treatments as signs of severe disease, last-resort options, or steps immediately preceding surgery. The belief that intravenous therapies necessarily have more side effects than oral therapies is a misconception that clinicians should address directly. Some patients perceived newer biologic treatments as experimental and worried about being used as test subjects. Some patients feared that starting biologics too soon would accelerate progression toward more serious interventions.