The advancement of biosimilars moves another step forward today with the launch of versions of a rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease drug to European markets.
The products, which come from South Korean firm Celltrion and its partners Hospira and Mundipharma, will be in competition with the Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. drug Remicade. Remicade and the biosimilar copies contain the antibody known as infliximab.
The biosimilar will be branded as Inflectra in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden by Hospira – Mundipharma will brand it as Remsima in Germany, Italy, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
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This comes after the expiration of relevant Remicade patents. The progression into major economies solidifies the threat to the multibillion-dollar biotech industry.
According to Reuters, Citigroup analyst Andrew Baum has predicted that biosimilars would result in at least $110 billion of value being transferred from innovator companies to copycat producers between 2015 and 2025.
A FDA advisory committee will decide on March 17 whether to recommend Celltrion’s version of Remicade.
[Photo from Flickr user Matt Sephton]
