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 Novartis's Sandoz generics unit, among the biggest biosimilars
makers, on Tuesday agreed to license from Poland's Polpharma
Biologics a version of Biogen's decade-old Tysabri for multiple
sclerosis. This is the fifth proposed biosimilar licensed by Sandoz
in nine months.
Meanwhile, Lonza announced it had contracted drug substance
production for South Korean drugmaker Celltrion's Remsima, a copy of
Johnson & Johnson's Remicade against autoimmune diseases like
rheumatoid arthritis.
Biosimilar versions of patent-expired blockbusters such as Remicade
and Tysabri have advanced in Europe, although U.S. adoption has
lagged as drugmakers fiercely defend original versions. Novartis has
lost its share of fights, including a recent court setback over
Amgen's Enbrel.
Rebates offered to U.S. insurers by drugmakers have also erected
barriers, although with markets like MS and immunology each in the
tens of billions of dollars the allure remains great. This year,
Canada's British Columbia province began switching patients to
biosimilars in a bid to save tens of millions of dollars.
Lonza Chief Executive Marc Funk said his Basel-based company, which
helps other drug firms outsource their production, would give
Celltrion "the flexible capacity and agile teams it needs to respond
to evolving market demand".
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With their deal, Novartis and Sandoz add to a growing stable of MS
drugs, including older Gilenya and newly approved Mayzent, as well
as a late-stage biological hopeful, ofatumumab, in its pipeline.
"Biosimilars create competition and cost savings, which are proven
to make room in healthcare systems to treat more patients," said
Pierre Bourdage, Sandoz's interim biopharmaceuticals head, without
giving financial details of the deal for the Polpharma molecule now
in late-stage trials.
Novartis could have decent luck with MS biosimilars, analysts said,
given the high costs of the debilitating disease for health systems.
"The acceptance for cheaper MS medicines will be great, because
around half of all patients cannot afford them," ZKB analyst Michael
Nawrath wrote in a note.
Copies of biological drugs are called biosimilars because, unlike
small-molecule chemicals, they cannot be exactly replicated in the
factory. Still, studies show they carry the same potential benefits
for patients.
(Reporting by Michael Shields and John Miller; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu)
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