The biosimilars landscape

Biosimilares/Investigación | Posted 23/09/2011 post-comment0 Post your comment

There is obviously a market for biosimilars. This is driven by the cost savings to be made by payers and patients alike. By 2015, IMS Health (IMS) expects spending on biosimilars to exceed US$2 billion annually, or about 1% of total global spending on biologicals. They expect new biosimilars to enter the US market by 2014 and European markets to have additional biosimilar molecules introduced during this period [1].

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Biosimilars have been on the market since 2006 and are already present in many countries worldwide, see Table 1 [2].

Table 1: Biosimiars market entry onto multiple countries

Country HGH EPO G-CSF
Europe (big 5)      
France Q2 2007 Q1 2009 Q1 2009
Germany Q1 2007 Q1 2009 Q4 2008
Italy Q2 2006 Q4 2007 Q2 2009
Spain Q3 2007 Q1 2009 Q1 2009
UK Q2 2007 Q1 2009 Q4 2008
Europe (rest)      
Austria Q2 2009 Q3 2008 Q1 2009
Belgium Q2 2009    
Bulgaria     Q4 2009
Denmark   Q1 2010 Q1 2009
Finland Q1 2008 Q3 2008 Q3 2009
Greece   Q1 2009 Q2 2009
Hungary   Q1 2009 Q1 2009
Ireland   Q3 2008 Q4 2009
Latvia Q2 2009   Q1 2009
Lithuania   Q1 2010 Q1 2009
Netherlands Q3 2009 Q4 2009 Q2 2009
Norway   Q4 2008 Q1 2009
Poland Q2 2009 Q3 2009 Q3 2009
Romania Q3 2008 Q3 2009 Q2 2009
Slovakia     Q2 2009
Slovenia Q4 2009 Q1 2009 Q4 2009
Sweden Q2 2008 Q2 2008 Q2 2009
Rest of the world      
Australia Q1 2010   Q1 2010
Canada Q3 2009    
Japan Q3 2009    
US Q1 2007    

EPO: erythropoietin; G-CSF: granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; HGH: human growth hormone
Source: IMS Health

The first biosimilars approved were human growth hormone, followed by erythropoietin (EPO) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).

Global sales of biosimilars have more than doubled each year since 2007, and had reached more than US$234 million in 2010, see Figure 1. EPOs take the major share of the market with sales of US$93 million, followed by G-CSF (US$75 million) and human growth hormone (US$67 million). Despite the dominance of EPOs, Sandoz’s Omnitrope—a human growth hormone—is still the largest selling biosimilar, with global sales in 2010 of US$66 million.

Figure 1: Global biosimilar sales of EPO, G-CSF and HGH

GW 686E Figure 2

EPOs: erythropoietins; G-CSF: granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; HGH: human growth hormone
Source: IMS Health

The biosimilars market is clearly experiencing rapid growth and looks set to reach IMS’s predictions exceeding US$2 billion annually by 2015.

Related articles

The market for global and European biosimilars

Biosimilars and the pharmaceutical industry

Biobetters rather than biosimilars

References

1. GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Generics and biosimilars to drive down drug spending [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2011 September 23]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Pharma-News/Generics-and-biosimilars-to-drive-down-drug-spending

2. Sheppard A. Biological/Biotechnological and Biosimilars market: the global outlook. 9th EGA International Symposium on Biosimilar Medicines; 2011 Apr 14; London, UK.

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